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MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 


MAN'S  DUTY   TO   MAN 


A  STUDY  OF  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS,  THEIR  CAUSES, 
AND  HOW  THEY  MAY  BE  IMPROVED,  INCLUDING 
A  REVIEW  OF  THE  NATURE  AND  CHARACTER 
OF  DEMOCRACY  AND  THE  •£> ANGERS  THAT 
ARE  CONFRONTING  IT  IN  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY 


By  JOHN  D.  WORKS 

Formerly  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  California,  Formerly  United 

States  Senator,  and  Author  of  "Juridical  Reform," 

"The  European  War  and  the  Monroe 

Doctrine,"  and  Other  Books 


THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

440  FOURTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 

MCMXIX 


Copyright,  1919,  by 
THE  NEALE  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


w* 

»-A 

Q 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

Man's  inhumanity  to  man 

Makes  countless  thousands  mourn. 

— BURNS. 


Oh !  Impudence  of  wealth,  with  all  thy  store, 
How  ckr'st  thou  let  one  worthy  man  be  poor? 

— POPE. 


As  long  as  I  am  an  American,  and  as  long  as  Ameri- 
can blood  rutts  in  these  veins,  I  shall  hold  myself  at 
liberty  to  speak,  to  write,  to  publish  whatever  I  please 
on  any  subject — being  amenable  to  the  laws  of  my 
country  for  the  same.  — LOVEJOY. 


TABLE  OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

PREFACE  9 

CHAPTER 

I.    WHAT  ARE  THE  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS      .     .  13 

II.    THE  WAGE-EARNER 50 

III.  THE  VERY  POOR  AND  DEPENDENT  ...  56 

IV.  THE  WOMEN  AND  CHILDREN       ....  60 
V.    THE  CRIMINALS 68 

VI.    THE  PUBLIC  HEALTH 74 

VII.    SANITARY  HOUSING 76 

VIII.    PATERNALISM:  SPECIAL  CLASS  LEGISLATION  97 

IX.    IMMIGRATION 104 

X.    EDUCATION.    SOCIAL  SETTLEMENTS  .     .     .  118 

XL    SELF-HELP 123 

XII.    FORWARD  TO  THE  LAND 126 

XIII.  THE  CHURCHES 149 

XIV.  DEMOCRACY 154 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  intended  to  bring  to  the  attention  of 
the  public  the  deplorable  condition  of  the  lower  classes 
of  our  people,  especially  those  who  live  in  the  slums, 
shacks,  tenement  houses,  and  congested  and  unsani- 
tary portions  of  the  great  cities  where  dwell  the  vic- 
tims of  cheap  labor, — the  poor  and  dependent  classes; 
to  awaken  a  more  lively  and  sympathetic  regard  for 
these  unfortunates,  and  to  suggest  some  better  and 
more  effective  means  of  relieving  their  condition,  in 
order  to  make  them  better  citizens,  self-supporting, 
self-respecting,  and  less  of  a  burden  upon  the  com- 
munities in  which  they  live,  and  to  render  their  state 
of  existence  less  of  a  disgrace  to  a  civilized  nation. 

To  relate  again  the  lamentable  condition  of  the 
very  poor  and  unfortunate  is  to  retell  a  sad,  sad  story 
that  has  been  told  again  and  again,  but  one  that  should 
be  retold  still  again  and  again  until  public  officials, 
and  others  within  whose  power  it  is  to  act  for  their 
relief,  realize  the  duty  that  rests  upon  them  to  re- 
move this  foul  blot  on  our  good  name  as  a  humani- 
tarian people,  and  relieve  the  general  public  from  an 
enormous  burden  that  should  not  and  need  not  be 
borne.  The  conditions  that  exist  are  as  unnecessary 
and  as  inexcusable  as  they  are  disgraceful  to  those  who 
allow  them  to  continue. 


TC.  PREFACE 

The  discussion  of  these  social  conditions,  and  how 
they  may,  and  should,  be  remedied,  has  led  to  a  con- 
sideration of  Democracy,  its  nature  and  character;  the 
necessity  of  preserving  and  maintaining  it  for  the  pro- 
tection of  all  classes  of  people  in  their  liberties  and 
in  the  right  to  live  decent  and  respectable  lives,  espe- 
cially for  the  preservation  of  the  life,  the  liberty,  and 
the  health  of  the  victims  of  poverty  and  want,  and  for 
the  securing  of  humane  treatment  for  them,  as  well  as 
a  review  of  some  of  the  dangers  at  home  that 
threaten  that  Democracy  that  we  are  fighting  to  es- 
tablish and  maintain  in  foreign  lands. 

The  preparation  of  the  book  has  been  a  labor  of 
love  in  behalf  of  the  defenseless  and  oppressed,  in- 
spired by  personal  investigations,  in  an  official  capac- 
ity, of  their  manner  of  living,  their  sufferings,  their 
dependence,  and  their  needs. 

If  this  little  book  shall  excite  greater  and  more 
sympathetic  interest  in  the  condition  of  these  unfor- 
tunates and  bring  about  renewed  and  more  effective 
efforts  in  their  behalf;  if  it  shall  inspire  in  the  minds 
of  even  a  few  of  the  American  people  a  better  un- 
derstanding of  the  salutary  and  beneficent  principles 
of  our  Government,  a  loftier  and  more  enlightened 
sense  of  the  obligations  of  citizenship  in  such  a  gov- 
ernment, and  the  duty  of  man  to  man,  the  author  will 
feel  himself  well  repaid  for  his  labors. 

No  effort  has  been  made  to  gather  the  statistics 
relating  to  the  subject.  This  has  been  done  by  vari- 
ous Federal  and  State  commissions  and  boards,  while 
conditions  in  New  York  City  have  been  interest- 


PREFACE  ii 

ingly  and  appealingly  detailed  by  Jacob  Riis,  in  his 
admirable  little  book,  "How  the  Other  Half  Lives." 

J.  D.  W. 
March,  1918. 


CHAPTER  I 

WHAT  ARE  THE  SOCIAL  CONDITIONS 

"THE  poor  we  have  with  us  always"  is  accepted 
not  only  as  a  present  existing  fact  but  the  common 
run  of  people  assume  that  it  must  continue  to  be  a 
fact  for  all  time  to  come.  In  a  country  like  ours, 
abounding  in  wealth  and  all  that  is  necessary  for  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  every  man,  woman,  and 
child  within  its  broad  domain,  it  is  far  from  credit- 
able to  us  as  a  nation,  or  to  those  who  possess  a 
surplus  of  this  supply,  that  we  should  admit  even  in 
thought  the  lamentable  fact  that,  while  thousands  of 
our  people-  have  more  than  enough  for  all  their  neces- 
sities, and  many  of  them  are  possessed  of  an  over- 
supply  that  is  to  them  a  great  burden,  thousands  more 
must  live  in  abject  poverty  and  want,  many  even  to 
the  point  of  starvation. 

The  indifference  of  the  masses  of  the  people  to  this 
condition  is  nothing  less  than  appalling.  They  make 
no  effort  to  know  the  condition  of  the  wage-earner 
struggling,  sometimes  vainly  struggling,  for  a  live- 
lihood for  himself  and  his  family,  or  of  the  dependent 
poor  hopelessly  deprived  of  all  power  to  help  them- 
selves. Some  persons  endeavor  to  learn  what  the  con- 
ditions are  and  to  help  in  the  commendable  effort  to 

13 


14  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

ameliorate  the  misery  that  prevails  among  the  very 
poor  and  dependent ;  but  most  of  the  American  people, 
in  their  greed  and  avarice  and  the  mad  struggle  for 
more  when  more  is  not  needed  by  them,  think  not  of 
the  poor,  suffering,  and  afflicted. 

One  who  takes  the  pains  to  investigate  the  condi- 
tions prevailing  in  this  country,  so  fair  and  so  pros- 
perous on  the  surface,  and  who  has  gone  down  among 
the  poor  and  conscientiously  endeavored  to  know  the 
truth  about  it,  has  a  horrible  story  to  tell  of  the  pov- 
erty and  squalor,  degradation  and  crime,  want  and 
starvation,  that  may  be  found  everywhere,  almost,  in 
this  great  and  powerful  nation  where  poverty  and  want 
should  be  unknown. 

The  author  of  this  little  book  has  done  this  thing; 
and  he  has  his  story  to  tell  and  his  appeal  to  make  in 
behalf  of  the  poor,  helpless,  and  dependent.  It  is 
not  a  pleasant  story  to  relate.  One  could  wish  with 
all  his  heart  that  it  were  fiction,  not  hard  and  pitiful 
facts.  One  could  wish  that  an  appeal  to  the  American 
people  and  their  humanitarian  instincts  were  not  nec- 
essary. But  that  it  is  necessary  the  present  condition 
of  the  poor  people  will  abundantly  prove.  Generally 
speaking,  the  people  of  this  country,  when  their 
thoughts  are  drawn  away  from  their  own  material 
interests  and  the  commercialism  that  has  taken  hold  of 
the  United  States,  are  sympathetic  and  mindful  of  the 
needs  and  sufferings  of  their  less  fortunate  fellow-men 
and  are  generously  disposed  to  aid  them  in  their  af- 
flictions. 

But  this  is  a  selfish  world.     Human  nature  is  es- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  15 

sentially  selfish.  We  are  living  in  an  age  of  selfish- 
ness supreme  above  that  of  any  other  age  or  time. 
The  desire  for  wealth  and  power,  the  spirit  of  com- 
mercialism, the  merciless  struggle  to  succeed  in  a 
worldly  way,  has  made  millionaires,  many  of  them; 
while  it  has  created  others  who  have  a  surplus  of 
this  world's  goods,  wholly  useless  to  them,  but  which 
might  redeem  thousands  from  a  condition  of  poverty, 
degradation,  and  want,  and  make  of  them  good,  self- 
respecting,  and  useful  citizens.  While  thousands  have 
grown  opulent  under  this  reign  of  commercialism,  the 
poor  have  grown  poorer,  more  abjectly  dependent  on 
charity,  and  have  become  useless  incumbrances  of  the 
body  politic. 

This  condition  of  uncharitable  indifference  to  the 
poor,  needy,  and  dependent,  while  widespread,  is  not 
universal.  There  are  many  heroic  souls  who  are  using 
every  effort  to  stem  the  tide  of  commercialism  and 
selfish  greed  that  is  overwhelming  the  country, — per- 
sons whose  lives  and  fortunes  are  unselfishly  devoted 
to  the  effort  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  very 
poor,  to  help  and  encourage  the  needy  working  classes 
struggling  for  bread,  and  to  elevate,  educate,  and  re- 
generate the  lower  classes.  The  author,  in  a  speech 
in  the  United  States  Senate,  on  Americanism,  had 
this  to  say  of  this  class  of  workers : 

But,  Mr.  President,  after  all  is  said,  the  world  is  not 
wholly  bad.  Never,  I  believe,  in  all  the  history  of  the 
world,  were  greater  or  more  sincere  efforts  made  by 
the  few  to  elevate  thought,  bring  about  a  more  enlight- 
ened understanding  of  good  and  evil  and  their  results, 


16  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

to  aid,  succor  and  elevate  the  downfallen  and  redeem 
and  regenerate  the  criminal  classes  than  now.  There 
are  courageous,  heroic,  self-sacrificing  souls  who  are 
giving  their  lives  and  the  best  that  is  in  them  for  the 
betterment  of  humanity.  They  are  not  sustained  by  the 
applause  of  the  multitude  or  rewarded  by  public  ap- 
proval. They  need  no  arms  or  munitions  of  war,  no 
armies,  no  navies  to  aid  them  in  the  defense  of  their 
country.  These  are  the  men  and  women  who  are  striv- 
ing unselfishly,  patriotically,  courageously  to  establish 
and  maintain  true  and  lasting  Americanism.  They 
carry  the  torch  that  lights  the  way  to  the  freedom  and 
independence  of  the  masses,  justice  to  all  at  home  and 
abroad,  domestic  and  international  peace,  and  the  libera- 
tion of  mankind  from  the  evils  that  make  for  discord, 
strife,  and  war  among  men  and  nations.  It  is  they  who 
are  standing  for  national  defense.  It  is  they  who  are 
erecting  the  bulwarks  of  defense  that  can  not  be  de- 
stroyed by  shot  or  shell.  It  is  they  who  are  elevating 
American  citizenship,  leading  the  child  in  the  way  he 
should  go,  and  making  better,  more  loyal,  more  patriotic, 
and  more  intelligent  and  righteous  men  and  women. 
They  are  making  Americanism  more  respectable  and  the 
Nation  more  secure,  more  stable  and  more  deserving 
of  the  respect  and  confidence  of  other  nations.  Their 
burden  in  the  righteous  effort  to  purify,  regenerate  and 
elevate  the  citizenship  and  Americanism  of  the  country 
has  been  made  infinitely  heavier  and  their  object  more 
difficult  of  attainment  by  the  admission  into  this  coun- 
try of  undesirable,  inefficient,  ignorant,  and  criminal 
immigrants  from  foreign  countries,  knowing  nothing 
and  caring  nothing  about  Americanism  or  our  free  insti- 
tutions. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  17 

It  is  one  of  the  purposes  of  this  book  to  add  to  the 
number  of  men  and  women  who  are  doing  this  great, 
unselfish  work,  and  to  aid  and  encourage  them  in 
their  efforts  to  ameliorate  the  unfortunate  conditions 
that  now  exist  in  this  country,  to  elevate  citizenship, 
advance  education,  and  make  this  country  better  and 
purer,  more  civilized  and  more  charitable. 

In  order  to  work  intelligently  and  advance  the  cause 
of  charity  and  good  citizenship,  it  is  necessary  to 
know  what  the  conditions  are.  To  disclose  them  in 
all  their  ugliness,  want,  and  depravity  is  not  a  pleas- 
ant task.  Most  people  would  prefer  to  look  the  other 
way.  But  it  is  a  disease  that  is  eating  at  the  very 
vitals  of  a  civilized  Christian  nation.  Good  people 
who  want  to  see  the  disease  healed  must  be  willing  to 
look  the  facts  squarely  in  the  face  and  meet  them  with 
unselfish  and  heroic  courage. 

The  author  has  been  placed  in  official  positions 
which,  as  he  conceived  his  duty,  called  upon  him  to 
investigate  general  conditions  and  to  use  his  best  ef- 
forts to  remedy  the  evil.  The  first  of  these  was  as 
President  of  the  City  Council  of  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia, his  home  city;  another  as  a  member  of  the 
Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  and  also  of  a  Joint  Committee  of  the 
two  Houses  of  Congress  to  investigate  and  report  upon 
the  relations  between  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the 
National  Government. 

In  the  former  position  he  made  a  personal  inspec- 
tion and  investigation  of  conditions  among  the  poor 
and  dependent  classes  of  the  city  of  Los  Angeles,  found 


18  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

them  deplorable,  and  so  reported  to  the  City  Council. 
He  caused  to  be  established  in  the  city  treasury  a  spe- 
cial fund  for  the  building,  maintaining,  and  policing 
of  sanitary  grounds  for  housing  the  poor  who  were 
crowded  into  unsanitary  homes,  whereby  they  might  be 
given  an  opportunity  to  live  in  a  little  more  comfort 
and  among  more  healthful  and  elevating  surround- 
ings. It  was  not  intended  to  make  it  a  purely  char- 
itable movement,  but  to  require  the  payment  of  rea- 
sonable rent  by  those  who  were  not  entirely  depend- 
ent, and  to  aid  them  and  give  them  the  opportunity 
to  live  more  decent  and  more  useful  lives.  Appeals 
to  help  with  their  means  were  made  directly  to  men 
and  women  possessed  of  a  surplus  of  this  world's 
goods,  which  surplus,  with  few  exceptions,  was  being 
increased  and  hoarded  and  was  of  no  use  to  them- 
selves nor  to  any  one  else.  The  effort  was  a  lamentable 
failure.  Not  one  of  the  wealthy  people  appealed  to 
responded  to  the  call  of  humanity.  Not  one  contrib- 
uted a  dollar  to  a  cause  that  should  have  found  instant 
sympathy  in  the  bosom  of  any  one  possessed  of  the 
slightest  spirit  of  generosity  and  sympathy  for  the 
poor,  needy,  and  afflicted.  All  contributions  came  from 
people  of  small  means.  Never  was  there  a  more  flagrant 
and  inexcusable  case  of  indifference  to  the  needs  of 
the  helpless  and  dependent  by  the  rich  and  affluent. 
A  personal  investigation  proved  that  these  unfor- 
tunate and  degrading  conditions  existing  in  Los  An- 
geles were  equally  prevalent  in  the  City  of  Washing- 
ton, the  Capital  of  the  Nation.  It  was  an  amazing 
and  discouraging  discovery.  That  such  wretchedness 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  19 

could  exist,  and  be  allowed  to  continue  in  the  Capital 
of  this  great,  rich,  and  powerful  nation,  w&s  almost 
unbelievable.  It  was  a  sad  revelation.  It  was  an- 
other evidence  of  the  world's  indifference  to  the  needs 
of  the  helpless  and  dependent  that  are  found  in  greater 
or  less  degree  in  every  community.  Congress  is  pos- 
sessed of  the  power  to  put  an  end  to  this  condition 
once  and  for  all  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  includ- 
ing the  City  of  Washington,  over  which  it  has  ample 
and  exclusive  jurisdiction;  but  Congress  does  not  act, 
to  its  shame  be  it  said. 

As  a  member  of  the  Joint  Committee  of  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress,  before  mentioned,  the  author, 
after  full  and  careful  personal  inspection  of  condi- 
tions in  Washington,  made  a  separate  report,  dealing 
with  the  subject,  in  which  conditions  as  they  existed 
then,  and  as  they  still  continue  to  exist,  were  shown. 
It  contains  a  description  of  the  "slums"  of  that  city 
which  is  inserted  here,  in  order  to  show  the  necessity 
of  speedy  and  drastic  action  in  the  matter  by  Con- 
gress : 


'The  American  people  want  their  Capital  to  be  clean, 
decent,  respectable,  and  healthful  as  well  as  beautiful 
on  the  outside.  It  has  fallen  far  below  this  standard 
under  a  system  of  government  where  Congress  can  shift 
its  responsibility  onto  the  District  of  Columbia,  a  spine- 
less and  irresponsible  municipal  body.  Under  this  sys- 
tem the  slums,  the  red-light  district,  the  saloons  and 
unwholesome  and  insanitary  conditions  have  been  al- 


20  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

lowed  to  flourish.  Crime,  vice,  corruption,  and  death 
have  devastated  portions  of  the  city  that  could,  and 
should,  have  been  protected  from  such  conditions.  From 
time  to  time  feeble  and  ineffectual  efforts  have  been 
made  through  inadequate  laws  to  remedy  these  evils. 
The  better  class  of  people  in  the  District  have  done  the 
best  they  could  with  the  insufficient  weapons  provided 
them  by  Congress  to  ameliorate"  the  conditions  and  pro- 
tect the  poor  people  who  suffer  from  them  the  most, 
but  to  a  discouraging  degree  it  has  been  a  hopeless  task. 
It  is  not  wholly  the  fault  of  the  people  of  the  District 
that  these  conditions  continue  down  to  the  present  day. 
Neither  is  it  the  fault  of  the  District  officers.  The  chief 
reason  for  it  is  that  Congress  has  failed  to  enact  the 
laws  and  appropriate  the  money  necessary  to  abate  these 
crying  evils,  though  often  urged  to  do  so. 

"In  his  message  to  the  Fifty-ninth  Congress  President 
Roosevelt  said: 

"  'The  National  Government  has  control  of  the  District 
of  Columbia  and  should  see  to  it  that  the  city  of  Wash- 
ington is  made  a  model  city  in  all  respects,  both  as 
regards  parks,  public  playgrounds,  proper  regulation  of 
the  system  of  housing  so  as  to  do  away  with  the  evils 
of  alley  tenements,  a  proper  system  of  education,  a 
proper  system  of  dealing  with  truancy  and  juvenile 
offenders,  a  proper  handling  of  the  charitable  work  of 
the  District.  Moreover,  there  should  be  proper  factory 
laws  to  prevent  all  abuses  in  the  employment  of  women 
and  children  in  the  District.' 

''Pursuant  to  this  recommendation  the  President  ap- 
pointed James  Bronson  Reynolds,  of  New  York,  to  in- 
vestigate conditions  in  the  District  and  report  to  him 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  21 

with  such  recommendations  as  suggested  themselves 
to  him.  In  his  letter  asking  Mr.  Reynolds  to  act  as 
adviser  in  the  matter,  he  said : 

"  'I  wish  your  investigation  to  terminate  in  definite, 
practical  recommendations  to  me  with  reference  to  the 
city's  present  needs  and  most  notable  defects  measured 
by  the  highest  standards  of  good  administration  in  this 
country  and  elsewhere/ 

"I  shall  call  attention  to  Mr.  Reynolds's  report  and 
recommendations  a  little  later.  President  Taft,  deal- 
ing with  this  subject  in  his  message  to  Congress  of 
December  6,  1910,  has  this  to  say: 

"  'Fair  as  Washington  seems,  with  her  beautiful  streets 
and  shade  trees,  and  free  as  the  expanse  of  territory 
which  she  occupies  would  seem  to  make  her,  from  slums 
and  insanitary  congestion  of  population,  there  are  centers 
in  the  interior  of  squares  where  the  very  poor,  and  the 
criminal  classes  as  well,  huddle  together  in  filth  and 
noisome  surroundings,  and  it  is  of  primary  importance 
that  these  nuclei  of  disease  and  suffering  and  vice  should 
be  removed  and  that  there  should  be  substituted  for  them 
small  parks  as  breathing  spaces  and  model  tenements, 
having  sufficient  air  space  and  meeting  other  hygienic  re- 
quirements. The  estimate  for  the  reform  of  Willow  Tree 
Alley,  the  worst  of  these  places  in  the  city,  is  the  be- 
ginning of  a  movement  that  ought  to  attract  the  earnest 
attention  and  support  of  Congress,  for  Congress  can  not 
escape  its  responsibility  for  the  existence  of  these  human 
pestholes/ 

"In  pursuance  of  recommendations  made  by  Mr. 
Reynolds,  President  Roosevelt  appointed  a  commission 


22  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

of  15  of  the  leading  citizens  of  Washington  to  deal  with 
the  subject. 

"That  commission  made  a  full  and  exhaustive  report  of 
conditions  with  its  recommendations.  This  report  first 
quoted  from  Mr.  Reynolds's  report  as  follows: 

'  'The  report  of  Mr.  James  Bronson  Reynolds,  re- 
ferred to  in  the  President's  letter  as  the  basis  of  his  ac- 
tion, is  as  follows: 

'  'REPORT  OF  THE  HOUSING  OF  THE  POOR  IN  THE  DISTRICT 

OF  COLUMBIA,  ESPECIALLY  IN  RELATION  TO 

INSIDE  TENEMENTS 

"  'As  you  directed  me  to  give  particular  attention  to  the 
housing  problem,  I  visited  and  examined  between  350 
and  400  tenements,  shacks,  and  small  houses  in  various 
sections  of  Washington  and  Georgetown  and  inspected 
numerous  alleys.  I  talked  with  their  occupants  and  con- 
ferred with  many  citizens  of  the  District,  both  white  and 
colored,  including  representatives  of  trade-unions,  to 
obtain  their  views  regarding  housing  conditions. 

"  'In  my  investigation  I  found  three  distinct  problems 
— that  of  small  houses,  that  of  alley  shacks  and  alley 
houses,  and  that  of  inside  alleys.  .  .  . 

"  'I  found  nearly  all  the  alley  wooden  shacks  and  small 
brick  houses  that  I  visited  in  a  wretched  condition.  The 
wooden  shacks,  as  a  rule,  might  properly  be  condemned 
on  structural  grounds.  Their  yards  were  apparently 
storage  places  for  refuse  and  filth;  their  water  supply 
inadequate  and  badly  placed,  and  the  privies  frequently 
only  open  boxes  and  in  many  instances  without  covers, 
although  the  latter  are  required  by  the  health  ordinance. 
I  am  glad  to  state  that  during  the  past  year  many  of 
these  box  privies  have  been  removed. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  23 

"  'I  had  conversation  with  the  dwellers  in  these  inside 
shacks,  and  the  comments  of  many  may  be  fairly  sum- 
marized in  the  pathetic  remark  of  an  old  colored  woman 
who  exclaimed,  with  reference  to  her  neglected,  filthy 
yard  and  privy :  "Why,  my  old  marsa  wouldn't  ha'  kep' 
his  horses  stabled  in  such  a  place." 

"  'No  argument  is  needed  to  show  that  such  ill-condi- 
tioned hovels  are  culture  beds  of  disease,  the  germs  of 
which  may  be  carried  far  and  wide  by  the  flies  which 
feed  on  the  rotting  garbage  and  excreta.  Their  number 
should  be  promptly  ascertained  and  immediate  steps 
taken  for  their  complete  elimination,  and  buildings  con- 
structed in  their  places  should  have  proper  sanitary 
appurtenances  and  should  open  either  upon  a  highway 
or  small  street.  .  .  . 

"  'A  particularly  undesirable  and  menacing  feature  of 
the  poor  quarters  of  Washington  is  the  inside  alleys. 
These  alleys  are  centers  of  disorder  and  crime,  and  they 
make  possible  the  continuance  of  small  communities  un- 
controlled by  ordinary  police  inspection  and  unaffected  by 
public  observation  and  criticism.  In  my  opinion  all  in- 
side alleys,  with  the  exception  of  service  alleys,  should 
be  abolished,  and  a  definite  scheme  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  this  object  should  be  adopted.  .  .  . 

"  'A  law  passed  by  the  Congress  in  1916  appropriated 
$50,000  for  the  expense  of  condemnation  proceedings  in 
the  substitution  of  minor  streets  for  alleys,  but  a  recent 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia has  interposed  fresh  difficulties  by  declaring  uncon- 
stitutional the  assumption  of  the  law  that  the  entire  cost 
of  opening  small  streets  as  substitutes  for  alleys  should 
be  assessed  upon  the  adjacent  property  owners.  I  am 
not  prepared  to  make  any  specific  recommendations  to 


24  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

meet  this  new  difficulty,  but  to  urge  that  it  be  not  allowed 
to  prevent  the  abolition  of  inside  alleys/ 

"The  commission  then  proceeded  to  report  the  result  of 
its  own  investigations,  make  recommendations,  and 
point  out  the  obstacles  that  prevented  effective  work, 
including  reports  of  its  subcommittees.  From  this  long 
and  exhaustive  report  I  extract  the  following: 

"  *A    SERIOUS    OBSTACLE    TO    THE    CONVERSION    OF    ALLEYS 
INTO  STREETS 

"  The  law  passed  July  22,  1892,  and  amended  on  Au- 
gust 24,   1894,  prohibited  the  erection  of  dwellings  in 
alleys  less  than  30  feet  wide,  and  imposed  restrictions 
which  hindered  the  building  of  any  more  alley  houses. 
It  also  provided  for  the  conversion  of  alleys  into  minor 
streets,  but  nothing  of  importance  seems  to  have  been 
done  under  this  law  until  the  committee  on  improvement 
of  housing  conditions  took  the  matter  up  a  year  or  more 
ago  with  a  demand  that  the  change  be  made  in  certain 
typical  alleys.     This  led  the  commissioners  to  appoint  a 
committee  of  District  officials  to  advise  them  as  to  the 
opening  of  minor  streets,  and  cases  were  taken  up  as 
rapidly  as  they  could  be  properly  handled  until,  up  to 
the  present  time,  the  opening  of  12  such  streets  has  been 
recommended.     Two  of  these  have  been  confirmed  by 
the  courts  and  three  other  cases  are  pending  in  court. 
The  commissioners  are  proceeding  as  rapidly  as  pos- 
sible in  the  other  cases,  but  the  conflict  with  private 
interests  led  to  litigation  and  a  decision  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  on  March   11   last,  which 
declared  it  illegal  to  assess  all  the  damages  on  certain 
property,  as  the  law  provides,  unless  it  is  found  to  be 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  25 

benefited  to  that  extent.  Although  the  commissioners 
are  continuing  to  prepare  and  present  cases  they  can  not, 
under  the  law,  approve  the  verdict  in  any  case  unless  the 
benefits  as  assessed  equal  the  damages  and  expenses/  .  .  . 

"Mr.  Thompson,  in  his  Housing  Handbook,  says  of 
private  enterprise: 

"  'It  has  been  assumed  by  thousands  who  ought  to  have 
known  better  that  private  enterprise,  unstimulated,  un- 
regulated, unassisted,  undirected,  has  hopelessly  failed. 
It  has  left  us  face  to  face  with  a  very  deficient  supply; 
it  has  given  us  the  old  slums ;  it  often  has  given  up  only 
acres  and  acres  of  new  slums  in  the  suburbs,  jerry-built 
"brick  boxes  with  slate  lids"  dumped  down  on  dust  heaps 
and  put  up  mainly  with  the  object  of  getting  a  quick 
profit  in  the  few  years  which  will  elapse  before  they  de- 
generate into  slum  dwellings  almost  as  bad  as  the  old 
ones  in  our  midst.  Where  the  new  houses  are  well  built 
and  on  good  sites  they  are  of  an  unsuitable  type,  and  the 
rents  are  so  unreasonably  high  as  to  be  beyond  the  means 
of  one  family,  so  they  have  to  be  sublet  to  other  families, 
and  thus  by  overcrowding,  with  the  increased  wear  and 
tear  following  in  its  train,  they  rapidly  deteriorate  and 
leave  the  housing  of  the  mass  of  the  people  as  bad  in 
many  respects  as  it  was  before.  The  product  of  private 
enterprise,  then,  is  insufficient  in  quantity  and  inferior  in 
quality/  .  .  . 

"In  the  report  of  the  health  officer  for  1875  it  was 
noted  that  during  the  year  699  houses  were  reported  as 
unfit  for  human  habitation  and  198  condemned  by  the 
board.  In  1876  424  houses  were  reported  and  371  con- 
demned, and  in  the  report  of  the  board  of  health  for 
1877,  page  46,  we  find: 


26  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

"  'No  meaner  cabins  for  temporary  or  permanent  shel- 
ter can  be  found  than  some  our  wretched  poor  are  born 
and  exist  and  die  in,  here  at  the  Capital  of  the  United 
States.  And,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  none  so  mean  that 
they  have  not  an  owner  mean  enough  to  charge  rent  for 
them.  Down  in  the  alleys,  below  grade,  with  combination 
roof  of  tar,  felt,  shingles,  rags,  tin,  gravel,  boards,  and 
holes ;  floors  damp  and  broken,  walls  begrimed  by  smoke 
and  age,  so  domiciled  are  families,  with  all  the  dignity 
of  tenants  having  rent  to  pay.  The  board  has  con- 
demned 153  such  during  the  past  year  and  958  during  the 
past  four  years,  of  which  probably  300  have  been  en- 
tirely demolished.  But  many  owners  still  cling  to  the 
wrecks. 

"  'Our  experience  in  dealing  with  filth,  crowd  poison, 
and  disease  among  these  people  during  the  past  four 
years  has  taught  us  that  the  great  public  economy,  viz, 
the  preservation  of  public  health,  is  defeated  by  allow- 
ing these  filthy,  worthless,  dependent  classes  of  human- 
ity to  congregate  in  the  alleys  and  byways  out  of  sight, 
and  therefore  out  of  mind,  until  direful  epidemic,  in- 
cubated and  nourished  among  them,  spreads  its  black 
wings  over  the  homes  of  the  whole  city.  Better  far  to 
provide  for  the  aged  and  sick  in  public  institutions  of 
charity,  the  vagrant  in  the  chain  gangs,  let  the  cost  be 
what  it  may,  than  to  allow  them  to  remain  propagators 
of  public  disease,  and  incalculable  expense  to  the  District/ 

"This  report  was  made  at  the  close  of  the  year  1908. 
"In  April,  1903,  the  Washington  Post  said,  editorially: 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  27 


"  'An  English  gentleman,  who  is  also  a  philanthropist 
and  a  student  of  sociology,  has  been  looking  into  the 
slums  of  Washington.  Ten  years  ago  he  visited  the  Capi- 
tal, but  on  that  occasion  saw  only  our  splendid  public 
parks  and  beautiful  private  residences,  just  like  a  very 
large  majority  of  Washingtonians  and  visitors.  He  re- 
turned to  England  convinced  that  Washington  was  the 
long- looked- for  model  city.  Now  he  pays  a  second  visit, 
and  this  time  he  goes  behind  the  scenes.  The  result  of 
the  investigation  is  an  amendment  to  the  gentleman's 
original  estimate.  He  finds  that  while  our  areas  of 
squalor  and  degradation  are  not  as  numerous  or  so  ex- 
tensive as  those  of  London  they  are  in  many  instances 
much  more  appalling.  On  this  point  he  says: 

"  'This  time  I  came  to  see  the  worst  that  was  to  be 
seen,  and  it  has  been  a  revelation  to  me.  I  have  seen 
rooms  with  half  a  dozen  or  more  people  living  in  them. 
I  have  seen  buildings  that  would  be  condemned  and  torn 
down  in  London,  if  they  were  inhabited  only  by  a  coster's 
donkey.  Walls  tumbling  down,  floors,  rotten,  ceilings 
and  walls  falling  in,  little  yards  and  outbuildings  filled 
with  rubbish  and  dirt,  and  absence  of  all  sanitary  ar- 
rangements. Within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  British  Em- 
bassy, in  an  alley,  there  are  hovels  that  are  not  fit  for 
pigs  to  live  in.  Within  the  shadow  of  the  Capitol  there 
are  others.  On  Factory  Hill  and  in  the  holes  around 
the  canal  in  Georgetown  there  are  frightful  places  full 
of  filth  and  the  direst  poverty,  where  disease  and  crime 
must  breed  rapidly/ 

"In  December  of  that  year  Jacob  Riis,  in  an  address 


28  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

delivered  at  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Wash- 
ington City,  had  this  to  say  on  the  subject: 

'  'I  am  not  easily  discouraged.  But  I  confess  I  was 
surprised  by  the  sights  I  have  seen  in  the  National  Capi- 
tal. You  people  of  Washington  have  alley  after  alley 
filled  with  people  you  know  nothing  about.  There  are 
298  such  alleys.  They  tell  me  the  death  rate  among  the 
negro  babies  born  in  these  alleys  is  457  out  of  1,000  and 
before  they  grow  up  to  be  i  year  old.  Nearly  one-half. 
Nowhere  I  have  ever  been  in  the  civilized  world  have  I 
heard  of  a  death  rate  like  that.  Why  I  have  never  seen 
places  like  those  you  have  here.  .  .  . 

'  'To  fight  your  slums  you  ought  first  of  all  to  acquire 
the  right  to  deal  with  the  evil  man  who  insists  on  mur- 
dering your  babies.  But  you  are  sure  to  run  against  the 
old  cry  of  "property  rights."  One-half  your  children 
die  in  hovels  before  they  reach  the  age  of  I  year,  be- 
cause the  owners  would  rather  have  25  per  cent,  profit 
than  save  their  souls.  For  such  a  condition  there's  no 
defense.  Where  does  the  blame  lie?  With  the  owners 
of  the  slums,  you  will  probably  say.  But  it  lies  equally 
with  the  community  which  permits  such  a  shameful 
and  sinful  condition  of  affairs  to  exist  within  its  borders.' 

"In  commenting  on  this  address  the  Washington  Times 
said: 

"  'This  indictment  of  a  community  which  has  no  slums, 
this  astounding  disclosure  of  a  condition  not  parallelled 
by  the  squalor  of  New  York  or  London  or  Paris,  was 
the  key  last  night  to  one  of  the  most  remarkable  meet- 
ings held  in  Washington  in  many  years.  It  was  the 
judgment  of  a  trained  mind  delivered  after  a  trip  through 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  29 

the  Capital  and  expressed  with  manly  courage  and  plain 
speech  to  an  assembly  of  representative  Washingtonians.' 

"Under  a  more  recent  date  the  Times,  in  an  extended 
editorial  on  slum  conditions,  said: 

" '.  .  .  The  thing  needed  here  is  such  an  education  of 
the  commercial  instinct  that  owners  of  houses  in  the 
poorer  neighborhoods  will  cease  to  expect  extraordinary 
percentages  on  their  investments.  ...  It  has  been 
proved  by  investigation  that  the  poor  can  be  comfortably 
housed  in  clean,  sanitary  dwellings  which  will  pay  from 
7  to  10  per  cent,  on  the  investment  if  well  managed. 
It  has  also  been  ascertained  that  the  profits  on  much  of 
the  old-fashioned  tenement  and  shanty  property  ran 
from  10  to  20  per  cent.,  and  even  higher.  This  means 
that  a  few  property  owners  are  content  to  make  money 
at  the  cost  of  the  poor  and  at  the  risk  of  endangering 
the  whole  community  through  the  disease  and  filth  bred 
in  their  property.  The  way  in  which  this  kind  of  piracy 
can  be  avoided  lies,  first,  in  strictly  enforced  laws  which 
will  prevent  overcrowding  and  insanitary  buildings 
absolutely.  .  .  .' 

"Now  let  us  see  how  far  the  conditions  have  improved 
since  that  time.  During  the  year  1910  strenuous  efforts 
were  made  to  secure  needed  legislation  and  thus  improve 
conditions  which  were  fully  disclosed  at  that  time. 
Let  me  quote  some  of  the  things  that  were  said  of  con- 
ditions as  they  then  existed. 

"In  an  article  in  the  Washington  Times  we  find  the 
following,  quoting  in  part  from  remarks  of  Mr.  E.  W. 
Oyster,  one  of  the  good  citizens  here,  who  has  labored 
incessantly  for  better  conditions  in  the  District: 


30  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

"  'Washington  is  honeycombed  with  filthy  alleys, 
spreading  disease  in  even  the  most  beautiful  parts  of  the 
city.  Scattered  through  every  residence  section  are 
slums  more  objectionable  than  the  congested  districts  of 
New  York  or  London.  The  health  department  is  right- 
ing a  desperate  losing  battle  against  conditions  too  deep 
rooted  to  be  repaired  without  public  aid/ 

"This  was  the  warning  that  E.  W.  Oyster,  of  the 
Petworth  Citizens'  Association,  hurled  from  the  pulpit  of 
the  People's  Church,  East  Capitol  Street,  yesterday 
morning.  .  .  . 

"  'The  people  who  own  property  in  these  slums/  said 
Mr.  Oyster,  'are  selling  their  souls  for  cash.  And  the 
tragedy  of  it  is  they  are  selling  the  lives  of  their  own 
carefully  guarded  children  for  cash. 

"  'I  shall  not  criticise  the  health  department,  because  I 
believe  Dr.  Woodward  is  an  efficient  officer,  alive  to  the 
situation  but  terribly  handicapped. 

"  'The  public  is  strangely  indifferent.  As  a  special 
examiner  of  the  Pension  Bureau  I  have  had  occasion 
to  visit  these  places,  and  if  the  public  could  see  them  as  I 
have  seen  them,  and  as  Dr.  Woodward  and  his  assistants 
have  seen  them,  there  would  be  a  clamor  for  reform. 

"  'We  are  spending  millions  making  Washington  beauti- 
ful, and  it  is  beautiful;  but  what  is  beauty  when  it  is 
rotten  to  the  core  ?  .  .  . 

"  'As  it  is,  the  Capital  of  the  Nation  is  a  disgrace,  with 
a  death  rate  higher  than  even  such  cities  as  Denver, 
where  we  send  our  sick  people  too  late  to  get  them  well. 

"  'Behind  the  great  mansions  lie  hovels  that  are  natural 
disease  breeders.  In  every  part  of  this  city,  in  the  north- 
west as  well  as  the  southeast,  citizens  are  being  mur- 
dered through  their  own  lack  of  interest  and  their  own 
ignorance  of  what  is  going  on  behind  their  backs.' 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  31 

"The  Senator  from  Washington  (Mr.  Jones)  in  a 
statement  made  by  him,  as  published  in  the  Washington 
Times  of  September  21,  1914,  has  this  to  say: 

"  To  those  familiar  with  the  alley  conditions  of  the 
city  of  Washington  no  action  in  relation  to  the  city's 
needs  has  been  more  imperatively  needed  than  their 
elimination.  If  the  good  men  and  women  knew  of  the 
actual  conditions  that  exist  within  the  shadow  of  the 
Nation's  Capitol  and  realized  the  dangers  to  health  and 
good  morals  that  go  out  from  them  to  all  parts  of  the 
city  the  demand  for  their  eradication  would  be  universal, 
except  from  those  who  profit  from  conditions  that  are  a 
disgrace  to  civilization  and  Christianity.  There  would 
be  no  grumbling  about  how  to  do  it,  nor  would  the  rights 
of  humanity  be  sacrificed  for  the  rights  of  property. 

"  'When  the  situation  is  understood,  there  is  not  much 
basis  except  greed  for  opposition  to  what  has  been  done. 
No  substantial  injury  will  be  suffered  by  any  one.  Any 
dwelling  house  lawfully  on  these  alleys  now  has  been 
there  more  than  20  years.  The  real  annual  profits  from 
this  property  have  been  from  10  to  14  per  cent.,  and  so 
the  owners  have  been  paid  for  it  more  than  twice  over 
during  that  time.  No  property  is  confiscated.  All  these 
owners  have  to  do  is  to  change  the  use  of  their  prop- 
erty or  the  conditions  of  use. 

"  If  they  make  the  alleys  conform  to  the  conditions  of 
the  law,  they  can  use  their  property  for  homes  or  busi- 
ness as  they  do  to-day.  They  may  be  put  to  some  ex- 
pense; their  excessive  profits  may  be  reduced;  but  their 
property  will  still  be  useful  and  profitable. 

"  'Nothing  more  strikingly  illustrates  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  wealth  and  greed  than  the  situation  in  regard 
to  this  alley  problem.  The  public  has  been  apathetic, 


32  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

business  organizations  composed  of  men  of  high  stand- 
ing have  opposed  this  legislation  unless  the  so-called 
rights  of  property  owners  are  given  the  last  farthing  of 
protection,  and  the  public  health  and  safety  and  the 
pleadings  of  humanity  have  been  subordinated  to  the 
financial  interests  of  a  few  rapacious  individuals. 

"  'A  few  noble  women  interested  themselves  in  the  sub- 
ject. They  did  splendid  work,  but  it  took  the  pleadings 
of  a  tender-hearted  woman  in  an  exalted  place  as  she 
passed  into  the  Valley  of  Death  to  bring  action.  Action 
has  come,  swift,  sure,  direct,  complete,  and  the  city 
of  Washington  without  its  slums  and  unspeakable  alley 
conditions  will  be  a  fitting  tribute  and  monument  to  the 
sweet  nobility  of  Mrs.  Wilson,  who,  from  her  exalted 
place  as  the  first  lady  of  the  land,  gave  her  time,  strength, 
influence,  and  love  for  the  happiness  and  comfort  of  the 
poor,  lowly,  and  unfortunate,  and  whose  last  thoughts 
were  not  of  her  position,  but  of  poor,  suffering  human- 
ity.' 

"In  a  circular  published  by  the  Monday  Evening  Club 
of  Washington,  in  October,  1912,  Thomas  Jesse  Jones, 
chairman  of  the  housing  committee  of  that  club,  has 
this  to  say: 

"  'After  40  years  of  agitation  and  search  for  ways  and 
means  to  eliminate  the  blind  alleys  of  Washington,  they 
still  remain  to  spread  crime  and  disease  throughout  the 
beautiful  city  and  its  inhabitants.  Two  startling  facts 
should  have  swept  these  alleys  out  of  existence  years 
ago.  One  out  of  every  three  children  born  in  these  by- 
ways dies  within  the  first  year  of  life.  To  make  mat- 
ters worse,  these  houses,  with  their  diseases  and  crime, 
fill  the  center  of  many  blocks  rimmed  with  splendid 
houses  and  hotels.  • 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  33 

"  'A  glance  at  the  map  of  Washington  shows  the  dan- 
gerous proximity  of  these  disease  centers  to  the  best  resi- 
dential blocks  of  the  city. 

"  'Some  alleys  have  been  eliminated  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  commercial  enterprises.  One  disreputable  place 
was  converted  into  a  minor  street  by  assessments  upon 
neighboring  property  equal  to  the  cost  involved  in  the 
change.  Further  application  of  this  method  was  stopped 
by  a  Supreme  Court  decision  in  1907  which  cast  doubt 
upon  the  legality  of  this  form  of  assessment.  At  the  last 
session  of  Congress  $78,000  were  voted  for  the  change  of 
the  most  notorious  alley  in  the  city  into  an  inner  park. 
This  year  the  commissioners  are  planning  to  attack  four 
more  alleys. 

"  'But,  in  spite  of  all  these  accomplishments  and  plans, 
there  is  no  plan  to  attack  the  problem  as  a  whole.  A 
careful  study  of  the  whole  situation  leads  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  final  solution  of  the  alley  problem  awaits 
the  aroused  public  interest  of  the  Nation.  Let  us  add  to 
our  plans  for  a  city  beautiful,  a  demand  for  a  city  pure. 
Let  the  woman's  clubs  of  the  land,  the  civic  associations 
of  the  Nation,  and  political  organizations  of  every  State 
and  city  unite  in  the  call  for  a  National  Capital  that  shall 
be  both  beautiful  without  and  clean  within.' 

"In  the  same  circular  Mr.  Wilbur  Vincent  Mallalieu 
says: 

"  'The  moral  conditions  in  such  a  secluded  inclosure  as 
this  court  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  The  police  who 
have  to  do  with  it  agree  in  speaking  of  its  disreputable 
character.  One  officer  has  remarked  that  it  is  the  worst 
place  in  the  United  States  and  that  there  is  no  crime  un- 
known to  it.  The  police  blotter  of  the  precinct  shows 
that  from  March  i,  1911,  to  March  i,  1912,  there  were 


34  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

114  arrests  among  the  204  men,  women  and  children 
living  in  Snow's  Court.  The  charges  were  drunkenness, 
disorderly  conduct,  assault,  unlawful  assembly,  larceny, 
cruelty  to  animals,  and  accusations  relating  to  sexual 
crimes.  Nor  does  this  number  of  cases  represent  all  the 
evil,  because  it  does  not  take  into  account  residents  of 
Snow's  Court  arrested  in  other  precincts,  nor  does  it 
include  the  mischief  done  in  Snow's  Court  by  inhabitants 
of  the  neighboring  alleys  and  residents  of  other  parts 
of  the  city.  .  .  . 

"  'Snow's  Court  is  a  peril  to  our  Capital  life.  Only  an 
awakened  public  conscience  that  shall  demand  the  aboli- 
tion of  this  and  other  pest  centers  will  rid  the  city  of  very 
grave  dangers. 

"  'I  might  go  on  almost  without  limit  quoting  from  the 
sayings  of  newspapers  and  others  as  of  that  date  con- 
demning conditions  and  suggesting  remedies,  but  I  desist/ 

"This  showing  should  appeal  strongly  to  Congress  for 
relief. 

"In  a  directory  of  the  inhabited  alleys,  issued  as  late 
as  1912,  it  is  said  by  way  of  introduction: 

"  There  are  275  of  these  interior  courts  in  the  city. 
They  contain  3,337  houses  used  for  dwellings  and  ap- 
proximately 16,000  persons.  They  are  so  widely  dis- 
tributed throughout  the  city  that  even  the  best  residential 
sections  are  not  free  from  their  evil  influences.  The 
northwest,  the  largest  of  the  four  general  sections  of 
the  city,  has  161,  or  nearly  three-fifths  of  all  the  alleys. 

"  The  statement  which  follows  shows  the  number  of 
alleys  and  alley  houses  for  each  section  of  the  city : 

"Total,  alleys,  275;  houses,  3,337. 
"Northwest,  alleys,  161 ;  houses,  1,940. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  35 

"Southwest,  alleys,  58;  houses,  705. 
"Northeast,  alleys,  30;  houses,  336. 
"Southeast,  alleys,  26;  houses,  356. 

'  The  average  for  each  alley  is  12.1  houses  and  58.1 
persons.  Each  alley  house  has  an  average  of  4.8  persons.' 

"Now  let  us  see  what  Congress  has  done  to  remedy  or 
ameliorate  these  fearful  conditions.  In  a  pamphlet  pub- 
lished by  the  committee  on  housing  of  the  woman's 
welfare  department  of  the  National  Civic  Federation  in 
November,  1912,  it  was  recited: 

"  'This  first  health  board,  which  had  begun  its  work  of 
alley  reclamation  so  nobly,  was  abolished  and  the  office 
of  health  officer  created  by  an  act  of  Congress,  June  n, 
1878.  Right  here  the  good  work  stopped,  for  in  the 
legalization  of  the  health  ordinances  in  1880,  the  section 
under  which  the  health  department  acted  in  the  con- 
demnation of  insanitary  buildings  was  omitted.  Whether 
this  omission  was  an  oversight  or  was  secured  by  the 
influence  of  men  whose  money  interests  were  at  stake  is 
not  known,  but  it  was  12  long  years  before  any  further 
remedial  legislation  was  enacted  and  during  those  years 
no  houses  were  condemned  and  new  houses  were  con- 
stantly erected.  Alley  property  had  proved  a  paying 
investment  and  brick  had  succeeded  wood  as  building 
material/ 

"In  1892  an  act  was  passed  by  Congress  authorizing 
the  commissioners  to  'condemn  open,  extend,  widen  or 
straighten  alleys  on  the  petition  of  the  owners  of  more 
than  one-half  of  the  real  estate  in  the  square  in  which 
such  alley  is  sought  to  be  opened,  etc/ 

"Congress  very  magnanimously  provided  in  this  act 
that  the  whole  of  the  expenses  of  such  improvement 


36  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

should  be  assessed  against  the  property  owners  in  the 
square  to  be  affected.  By  an  act  passed  in  1894,  the  pro- 
visions of  the  act  were  extended  to  minor  streets  of  not 
less  than  40  or  more  than  60  feet  in  width. 

"It  goes  without  saying  that  these  statutes  amounted 
to  practically  nothing  as  a  means  of  ridding  the  city 
of  the  evils  I  am  considering. 

"By  an  act  passed  in  1906  a  board  for  the  condemnation 
of  insanitary  buildings  was  created  and  authorized  to 
investigate  and  destroy  or  repair  such  buildings.  This 
has  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  some  of  the  buildings 
in  these  alleys,  but  it  has  wholly  failed  to  reach  the  heart 
of  the  evil  and  has  accomplished  very  little  of  good  in 
respect  of  the  slum  evil. 

"In  1914  an  act  was  passed  making  it  unlawful  'to 
erect,  place  or  construct  any  dwelling  on  any  lot  or  parcel 
of  ground  fronting  on  an  alley  where  such  alley  is  less 
than  30  feet  wide  throughout  its  entire  length  and  which 
does  not  run  straight  to  and  open  on  two  of  the  streets 
bordering  on  the  square  and  is  not  supplied  with  sewer, 
water  mains,  and  gas  and  electric  lights/ 

"The  intention  of  this  act  was  good  and  it  is  good  as  far 
as  it  goes,  but  that  is  a  very  short  distance.  It  only 
prevents  the  construction  of  additional  buildings  in  some 
of  the  alleys,  which  amounts  to  but  little  as  a  means  of 
putting  an  end  to  evils  that  have  existed  for  many  years. 

"On  March  3,  1915,  another  well-intentioned  act  was 
passed  'to  incorporate  the  Ellen  Wilson  Memorial 
Homes.'  This  was  a  fitting  memorial  to  a  good  woman 
whose  generous  and  sympathetic  heart  went  out  in  sym- 
pathy to  the  unfortunates  who  were  denied  the  com- 
forts of  sanitary  homes.  But  as  a  practical  means  of 
rendering  the  help  she  so  much  desired  them  to  have,  it 
will  amount  to  nothing  of  permanent  good.  The  work  of 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  37 

correcting  this  evil  can  not  be  delegated  to  private  in- 
dividuals. If  it  is  ever  done  and  done  effectually  it  must 
be  done  by  the  Government  and  with  its  money,  as  I 
shall  endeavor  to  point  out  further  along. 

"There  was  one  other  act  that  was  effective  to  destroy 
one  of  the  worst  of  these  slum  alleys.  It  was  the  act  to 
condemn  Willow  Tree  Alley.  In  this  instance  the  Gov- 
ernment generously  put  up  half  of  the  money  necessary 
to  accomplish  this  commendable  result.  But  even  this 
beneficent  effort  has  largely  failed  of  its  object  because 
instead  of  opening  out  the  alley  to  the  sunlight  and  the 
public  gaze  it  has  been  turned  into  an  inside  or  in- 
closed park  that  has  become  the  rendezvous  of  criminals, 
vagabonds,  and  the  immoral  and  viciously  disposed  of 
the  poorer  classes  that  calls  for  police  and  sanitary  in- 
spection and  control  which  is  not  always  supplied. 

"In  a  report  of  the  committee  on  improvement  of  exist- 
ing houses  and  elimination  of  insanitary  and  alley  houses 
of  the  President's  Homes  Commission,  above  mentioned, 
made  December  8,  1908,  some  of  the  existing  conditions 
and  described  and  the  difficulties  of  dealing  with  them 
effectually  are  pointed  out. 

"For  example,  in  speaking  of  one  of  the  objectionable 
alleys  it  is  said: 

"  'One  of  these  cases  is  Blagden's  Alley,  square  368, 
concerning  which  the  chief  of  police  and  his  associates 
on  the  board  state  in  the  recommendation  for  its  con- 
version into  a  minor  street  that — 

"  'Blagden's  Alley,  located  between  Ninth  and  Tenth 
and  M  and  N  streets,  contains  54  houses  inhabited  by  a 
negro  element  who  live  in  poverty  and  are  a  source  of 
constant  trouble.  The  dwellings  are  insanitary  and 
dilapidated  and  afford  shelter  to  10  or  12  persons  each/ 


38  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

"Another  is  square  620,  as  to  which  the  board  re- 
ported : 

"  'Logan  Place  contains  35  insanitary  dwellings,  which 
are  very  much  over-crowded  and  the  inhabitants,  being 
of  a  vicious  character,  give  the  police  more  or  less 
trouble/ 

'  'Every  one  familiar  with  these  and  other  such  laby- 
rinths realizes  the  security  from  police  supervision  which 
they  afford,  to  say  nothing  of  other  disadvantages  which 
fully  justified  the  recommendation  of  the  board/ 

"Then  it  was  said : 

'  The  principal  difficulty  with  the  present  law  seemed 
to  be  that  it  required  that  an  amount  equal  to  the  dam- 
ages found  should  be  assessed  as  benefits  and  that  this 
should  be  assessed  within  a  limited  area.  It  was  found 
that  the  law  of  1906  in  relation  to  the  opening,  extension, 
widening,  or  straightening  of  streets,  provided  that  the 
jury  should  assess  benefits  not  only  upon  adjoining  and 
abutting  property  but  upon  any  and  all  other  lots,  pieces, 
or  parcels  of  land  which  the  jury  might  find  to  be  bene- 
fited by  the  improvement.  This  apparently  indicated  a 
plan  by  which  the  amounts  required  could  be  raised  in  a 
more  equitable  manner,  but  as  it  seemed  probable  that 
in  many  cases  the  damages  awarded  would  even  then 
exceed  the  benefits  which  the  jury  might  find,  it  seemed 
desirable  to  include  also  a  provision  by  which  a  certain 
proportion  of  the  awards  could,  if  necessary,  be  paid  out 
of  some  general  fund. 

"  'One  of  the  commissioners  has  suggested,  when  the 
Engineer  Commissioner  recommended  that  the  work  be 
stopped  on  account  of  the  expense,  that  legislation  might 
be  urged  providing  that  the  alleys  be  opened  and  a  cer- 
tain proportion  of  the  expense  be  paid  by  the  United 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  39 

States  Government,  another  proportion  by  the  District 
government,  and  the  remainder  be  assessed  upon  the 
property  owners  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  improve- 
ment. Inasmuch  as  the  deplorable  conditions  of  the 
alleys  have  grown  up  under  the  administration  of  the 
District  government,  it  seems  proper  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  expense  of  removing  them  should  be  borne 
in  this  way  by  those  responsible  for  them;  but,  as  any 
payment  for  District  purposes  by  the  Federal  Govern- 
ment would  be  contrary  to  the  definite  policy  adopted  by 
Congress,  it  did  not  seem  advisable  to  the  committee  to 
advocate  such  a  provision/ 

"The  picture  presented  by  the  quotations  I  have  made 
is  not  overdrawn.  They  do  not  disclose  the  whole  truth. 
I  have  not  depended  on  such  information  in  reaching 
conclusions.  I  have  examined  enough  of  these  slums 
and  inspected  enough  of  the  dwellings  located  in  them  to 
speak  of  my  own  knowledge.  The  conditions  are  un- 
speakably bad.  One  who  witnesses  them  for  the  first 
time  is  filled  with  a  profound  sense  of  pity  and  com- 
miseration for  the  inmates,  not  unmixed  with  a  feeling  of 
shame  and  resentment  that  a  great  Nation  like  this,  one 
of  the  richest  and  most  powerful  in  the  world,  and  pos- 
sessed of  almost  unlimited  resources,  should  allow  such 
conditions  to  exist  in  its  Capital  City. 

"Washington  is  a  city  of  striking  and  abrupt  contrasts. 
One  may  ride  along  a  wide,  well-paved,  and  attractive 
street  lined  with  beautiful,  almost  palatial,  homes  and 
turn  from  it  upon  an  old,  worn-out,  cobblestone  or  brick 
paved  street  lined  with  old,  broken-down  houses,  many 
of  them  dilapidated  and  apparently  unfit  for  human 
habitation.  From  that  one  can  turn  into  what  are  politely 
called  'inhabited  alleys/  'courts/  'places/  and  find  an 


40  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

appalling  condition  of  poverty,  destitution  and  degrada- 
tion. All  this  within  a  distance  of  two  or  three  squares. 
Some  of  these  alleys  are  blind  alleys — that  is  to  say, 
there  is  but  one  means  of  ingress  and  -egress — and  with- 
in is  a  labyrinth  of  alleys  covering  the  entire  inside  of  a 
square  with  a  fringe  of  houses  around  the  outside,  some 
of  them  little  better  than  those  within  except  that  they  are 
easier  of  access. 

"Within  such  a  square  you  find  the  most  degrading 
conditions.  It  is  almost  beyond  belief  that  human  be- 
ings can  live  under  such  conditions.  They  have  very 
justly  been  called  pestholes  of  crime  and  disease.  And 
yet  the  owners  of  the  shacks  and  tumbled-down  and  un- 
sanitary houses  are  making  more  money  out  of  the  rent 
of  them  than  is  being  made  by  owners  of  first-class 
houses  and  business  blocks.  The  rents  are  exorbitantly 
high.  As  an  example,  I  visited  one  little  brick  shanty  with 
two  small  rooms  up  and  two  down  stairs,  without  run- 
ning water  in  the  house,  out  of  repair,  plaster  off  the 
walls,  ill-lighted,  and  poorly  ventilated.  This  house  was 
occupied  by  two  families,  each  with  two  rooms,  for  which 
they  paid  $7  a  month  each,  or  $14  for  this  little,  dilapi- 
dated, insanitary  house,  that  should  have  been  con- 
demned and  destroyed  under  existing  laws  long  since. 

"There  is  but  one  effective  remedy  for  this  dreadful 
condition.  The  Government  should  condemn  the  whole 
square  as  a  sanitary  measure  and  police  regulation, 
tear  everything  out  of  it,  root  and  branch,  replat  the 
ground,  construct  upon  it  model  sanitary  houses,  rent 
them  to  the  poorer  classes  of  people  who  now  inhabit 
the  slums,  and  then  supervise  and  inspect  them,  thus 
compelling  the  tenants  to  keep  them  in  a  sanitary  condi- 
tion inside  as  well  as  out.  It  will  be  said  that  all  this  will 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  41 

cost  a  lot  of  money.  Yes,  it  will;  but  it  will  be  money 
much  better  spent  than  are  millions  and  millions  of  dol- 
lars that  we  are  now  throwing  away  for  useless  and 
illegal  purposes.  The  Agricultural  Department  is  spend- 
ing and  wasting  millions  and  millions  of  dollars  on  use- 
less experiments  and  in  work  that  should  be  done  by  the 
States  and  can  not  legitimately  be  done  by  the  National 
Government.  The  Public  Health  Service  is  spending 
millions  more  in  the  States  in  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Constitution.  We  are  spending  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  for  the  cure  of  hogs  and  cattle  in  the 
States  often  where  the  Federal  authorities  have  no  law- 
ful right  or  business  to  enter.  We  spend  millions  for 
agricultural  colleges  and  vocational  schools  in  the  States, 
a  work  that  belongs  to  and  should  be  left  to  the  States. 
We  are  spending  money  lavishly,  extravagantly,  and  pa- 
ternally in  the  States.  The  dividing  lines  between  the 
States  and  the  Federal  Government  are  fast  disappear- 
ing by  the  raid  of  the  States  on  the  National  Treasury. 
The  States  are  selling  their  jurisdiction  and  their  sover- 
eignty for  money.  We  are  centralizing  our  Government 
at  an  alarming  rate  and  to  a  degree  that  I  am  afraid 
few  appreciate  and  for  purely  mercenary  and  selfish 
reasons.  The  pork  barrel  is  kept  well  filled.  We  are 
spending  millions  of  dollars  for  public  buildings  in  the 
States  that  are  not  needed  and  for  the  improvement  of 
so-called  rivers  and  creeks  that  are  of  no  public  use.  No 
wonder  the  National  Treasury  is  bankrupt  and  the  people 
are  being  taxed  to  keep  up  these  many  illegitimate  and 
useless  expenditures.  But  when  an  effort  is  made  to 
clean  up  the  National  Capital,  which  is  within  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Government  and  for  which  it  is  directly 
responsible,  the  purse  strings  are  tightly  drawn  and  the 


42  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

cheeseparing  begins.     The  half-and-half  system  is  ap- 
pealed to  as  a  reason  and  excuse  for  economy.    And  if 
the  half-and-half  system  is  adhered  to  it  may  just  as 
well  be  conceded  now,  once  for  all,  that  this  necessary 
improvement  can  not  be  accomplished.     The  one-half 
of  the  money  necessary  for  the  initial  work  can  not  be 
raised  by  taxation.     It  would  be  ruinous.    And,  so  long 
as  the  Government  hides  itself  behind  the  half-and-half 
system  and  contents  itself  by  meeting  one-half  of  the 
expenses,  the  conditions  in  the  Capital  will  continue  as 
they  are  now,  a  disgrace  and  a  reproach  to  the  Nation. 
"These  are  conditions  that  should  not  be  allowed  to 
exist  for  a  day  in  any  city  in  a  civilized  country,  much 
less  in  the  Capital  of  a  great  nation  like  ours.     But,  it 
will  be  asked,  what  is  the  remedy  ?    The  remedy  is  simple 
and  easy,  but  expensive.     The  Government  should  take 
the  matter  vigorously  in  hand.    As  I  have  said,  it  should 
condemn  and  clean  out  these  alleys  at  whatever  cost. 
But  it  should  not  stop  when  it  has  turned  these  poor 
people  out  of  their  homes,  however  poor  and  unsanitary 
they  are.     It  should  provide  other  homes  for  them  at 
reasonable  rents,  to  be  under  the  inspection  and  control 
of  the  Government.    This  could  be  done  as  a  matter  of 
public  safety  and   as   a  sanitary  measure.     This   duty 
of  providing  homes  for  the  poor  and  incompetent  with- 
in the  Capital  should  not  be  left  to  private  enterprises 
seeking  profits.     Neither  the  cost  nor  the  responsibility 
should  be  divided  with  anybody.    To  assess  the  damages 
resulting  from  such   sanitary  improvements  to  private 
owners  of  property  is  entirely  unreasonable  and  wholly 
unjust.     Our  civic  pride  as  well  as  our  sense  of  justice 
should  impel  us  to  act  in  this  matter  promptly  and  ef- 
fectively.    It  has  been  done  in  other  countries.     It  can 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  43 

and  should  be  done  in  this  country  within  its  Capital, 
over  which  it  has  exclusive  control. 

"Of  the  means  resorted  to  in  London,  England,  and  its 
results,  the  report  of  the  housing  committee  above  re- 
ferred to  has  this  to  say: 

'  'The  housing  of  the  working  classes  act,  which  was 
passed  in  1890  and  which  superseded  and  improved 
previous  attempts  in  this  connection,  provided  not  only 
that  individual  houses  might  be  condemned  as  insanitary, 
as  is  done  under  the  law  of  1906  here,  but  also  that  an 
area  containing  streets  and  many  houses  might  be  de- 
clared "unhealthy"  and  taken  over  by  the  local  authority ; 
and  that  the  buildings  might  be  removed,  the  streets  re- 
arranged, and  other  dwellings  erected,  either  by  agencies 
to  which  money  would  be  furnished  by  the  local  author- 
ity, or  if  necessary  by  the  local  authorities  themselves. 
In  fact,  the  law  made  it  obligatory  upon  the  local  author- 
ity in  London  to  provide  housing  accommodations  for  at 
least  50  per  cent,  of  the  people  displaced,  which  has 
since  been  raised  by  an  amendment  making  the  required 
provision  equal  to  all,  and  in  other  districts  to  such  an 
amount  as  might  be  determined  by  the  local  authority 
to  be  adequate  under  all  the  circumstances. 

"  'Under  this  housing  of  the  working  classes  act  nu- 
merous wretched  districts  have  been  cleared  up  and  com- 
fortable and  healthy  dwellings  provided,  and  although 
the  cost  to  the  community  has  been  considerable  in  cer- 
tain cases  where  the  evils  to  be  remedied  were  of  long 
standing  and  very  great,  the  law  has  done  great  good  and 
the  attention  of  those  interests  in  the  subject  is  being 
given  to  improving  its  operation  rather  than  to  changing 
it  in  any  radical  way.  It  aims,  so  far  as  possible,  to 
protect  the  interest  of  the  community  in  acquiring  any 


44  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

property  which  has  become  detrimental  to  the  well-being 
of  the  district,  while  at  the  same  time  dealing  justly 
with  the  owners.  The  method  of  procedure  requires  the 
local  authority  to  take  the  initiative  and  where  a  loan  is 
necessary,  as  it  often  is  where  an  area  is  acquired,  the 
plans  for  this  and  for  the  improvement  of  the  area  must 
be  approved  by  the  central  authority  in  London.' 

"And  comparing  the  conditions  -  there  with  ours  it  is 
said  further: 

;<  'It  will  be  noticed  that  the  situation  in  the  District  of 
Columbia  is  similar  to  that  in  England  in  that  the  Dis- 
trict government  resembles  the  local  authority,  which 
can  take  the  initiative  in  regard  to  any  alleys  which  re- 
quire attention,  but  which  can  not  act  without  the  con- 
sent of  an  authority  not  local,  which  in  the  case  of  the 
District  is  Congress. 

"  The  ordinary  danger  in  giving  to  public  officials  who 
are  in  entire  control  considerable  discretion  in  the  dis- 
bursement of  public  funds  is  therefore  removed,  and  it 
ought  to  be  possible  for  Congress  to  give  such  a  plan 
a  fair  trial  without  incurring  any  very  great  risk/ 

"The  following,  published  in  the  Trades  Unionist,  is 
worthy  of  careful  consideration: 

"That  the  United  States  Government  should  make 
Washington  the  model  for  all  cities  of  the  country  was 
the  opinion  of  the  delegates  to  the  National  City  Plan- 
ning Conference,  which  met  in  this  city  on  May  22,  1909. 
It  was  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  the  delegates  to  this 
conference  that  the  working  out  of  the  plans  for  the 
beautification  along  practical  lines  rather  than  for  mere 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 


45 


adornment  should  be  the  ideal  worked  for  by  all  Ameri- 
can cities  in  order  that  all  classes  of  people  shall  be 
benefited/ 

"One  of  the  speakers  at  the  opening  session  of  the  con- 
ference was  Robert  A.  Pope,  landscape  architect,  of  New 
York  City.  He  said : 

"  'Of  prime  importance  to  the  growth  of  the  city-plan- 
ning  movement  in  America  is  the  realization  of  its  true 
nature,  its  proper  aim,  its  vast  social  and  economic  im- 
port. Because  of  ignorance  of  the  true  scope  of  city 
planning  work  in  this  country  has  not  and  can  not,  as  at 
present  understood,  accomplish  its  primary  function. 

'  'For  example/  he  said,  'we  have  assumed  without 
question  that  the  first  object  of  city  planning  is  to  beau- 
tify. We  have  made  the  esthetic  an  objective  in  itself. 
We  have  rushed  to  plan  showy  civic  centers  of  gigantic 
cost,  the  carrying  out  of  which  too  often  has  been 
brought  about  by  civic  vanity,  when  pressing  hard  by  we 
see  the  almost  unbelievable  congestion,  with  its  hideous 
brood  of  evil,  filth,  disease,  degeneracy,  and  crime.  What 
external  adornment  can  make  truly  beautiful  such  a  city  ? 
Is  it  genuine  foresight  to  neglect  the  present-day  serious 
and  fast-growing  evils  of  congestion  and  bad  housing, 
which  is  so  directly  a  menace  to  future  generations  ? 

"  'To  forestall  the  disastrous  and  otherwise  inevitable 
consequences  of  these  conditions  will  be  the  richest  serv- 
ice that  city  planning  can  accomplish  for  the  future. 
That  this  is  its  true  and  primary  function  can  be  abun- 
dantly established.  The  example  of  European  countries, 
especially  that  of  Germany,  demonstrates  that  wise  city 
planning,  with  proper  regulations,  can  alleviate  and  ulti- 
mately eradicate  undue  congestion,  the  festering  source 
of  most  of  our  disease,  crime,  and  degeneracy.  To 


46  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

remedy  congestion,  then,  is  to  help  solve  some  of  our 
most  threatening  social  and  economic  problems.' 

'The  foregoing  statement  in  regard  to  city  planning 
and  city  management  are  probably  true  of  all  cities  and 
are  certainly  true  of  Washington. 

'  'What  external  adornment  can  make  truly  beautiful 
such  a  city?'  The  Washington  Times  appears  to  have 
anticipated  Mr.  Pope's  question  when  it  said  editorially: 

'  'No  part  of  the  greater  Washington  can  be  safely 
built  upon  a  rotten  foundation.  There  is  no  room  in  the 
city  for  such  contrasts  as  foul  alleyways  and  a  parking 
system  embracing  the  beauties  of  a  paradise.  The  spirit 
that  labors  for  the  realization  of  the  beautification  pro- 
ject should  at  the  same  time  strive  for  the  elimination 
of  the  slum  quarters.' 

"The  Washington  Post  says  our  alleys  are  'pest  holes ;' 
Rev.  J.  M.  Waldron,  president  of  the  Alley  Improve- 
ment Association,  brands  them  as  'plague  spots;'  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  declared  them  'a  reproach  to  the  Capital 
City;'  and  Senator  McMillan  'a  disgrace  to  our  civiliza- 
tion.' 

"  'What  external  adornment  can  make  truly  beautiful 
such  a  city  ?' — a  city  honeycombed  with  disease-breeding, 
death-dealing,  and  crime-producing  slums!  Jacob  Riis 
says  they  are  worse  than  any  he  ever  saw  in  New  York 
City  or  in  London,  and  Washington's  death  rate,  when 
compared  with  that  of  the  cities  named  and  nearly  all 
the  other  cities  of  its  class  in  the  United  States  and 
Europe,  seems  to  prove  the  truth  of  his  statement. 

"If  Congress  will  abolish  the  'local  authority'  here 
known  as  the  District  of  Columbia,  which  is  a  mere  in- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  47 

cumbrance,  and  the  half-and-half  system  and  deal  with 
this  awful  condition  directly  and  with  a  free  hand  the 
conditions  can  be  eliminated  from  the  life  of  the  Capital 
as  they  should  be. 

"There  can  be  no  possible  excuse  for  them  to  remain. 
It  is  a  shame  to  every  American  citizen  that  they  have 
been  allowed  to  exist  at  all. 

***** 

"I  have  said  some  unpleasant  things  about  the  condi- 
tions that  prevail  here  in  Washington.  I  have  said  them 
with  malice  toward  none.  They  are  things  that  needed 
to  be  said,  and  this  seemed  to  me  to  be  a  proper  time 
and  occasion  to  say  them.  Some  of  them  are  things  that 
should  ring  out  from  every  pulpit  in  the  land.  They 
should  be  shouted  from  the  housetops  until  the  condi- 
tions are  corrected.  All  of  them  should  challenge  the  at- 
tention of  the  civic  organizations  and  of  all  good  people 
in  the  District  who  believe  in  making  this  city  pure,  clean, 
healthful,  and  decent,  as  well  as  beautiful.  But,  above 
everything  and  everybody  else,  it  should  call  upon  Con- 
gress to  take  prompt  and  adequate  steps  to  remove  from 
the  Capital  and  the  Nation  the  stain  of  permitting  such 
conditions  to  exist." 

Conditions  in  the  City  of  Washington  above  de- 
scribed are  typical  of  conditions  of  every  city  of  any 
size  in  this  country.  Indeed,  it  may  be  fairly  said 
that,  by  comparison,  in  the  two  cities  that  have  been 
used  here  as  examples  conditions  are  better  than  in 
most  other  cities. 

Social  conditions  in  this  country  have  been  greatly 
complicated,  and  made  worse,  by  the  enormous  inflow 
of  foreigners,  many  of  them  ignorant,  some  of  them 


48  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

vicious,  and  very  few  of  them  able  to  speak  our  lan- 
guage. They  understand  neither  our  institutions  nor 
our  manner  of  living.  To  a  very  great  degree  they 
are  of  the  lower  classes  in  their  own  country,  and  com- 
mence, and  continue,  to  live  here  just  as  they  lived 
there.  Such  people  need,  in  the  first  instance,  to  be 
taught  how  to  live,  how  to  keep  their  homes,  however, 
humble,  clean,  healthful,  and  sanitary,  and  should  be 
compelled  to  live  decently,  however  poor  they  may  be. 
The  public  authorities  should  see  to  it  that  this  is 
done.  But  this  will  be  treated  more  in  detail  a  little 
further  along. 

Growing  out  of  this  influx  of  the  foreign  element, 
we  have  what  are  practically  foreign  cities  within 
American  cities,  portions  of  the  larger  cities  have  their 
French,  their  Italian,  their  Greek,  and  other  nation- 
alities congregated  in  sections  where  the  inhabitants 
habitually  speak  their  own  native  language  and  where 
the  English  tongue  is  seldom  heard.  This  of  itself 
is  an  unfortunate  condition  for  all  concerned.  It  is 
bad  for  the  foreign  inhabitant  because,  instead  of 
learning  how  to  live  in  conformity  to  our  ways  and 
customs,  he  clings  to  the  ways  of  his  native  land, 
gaining  thus  nothing  in  this  respect  by  the  change. 
So  long  as  he  speaks  only  a  foreign  language  he 
cannot  affiliate  with  the  native  population  and  be- 
come an  American  citizen.  It  is  bad  for  the  city  and 
for  the  whole  country  because,  under  such  conditions, 
this  foreign  element  cannot  be  assimilated  and  made 
a  useful  part  of  our  citizenship.  Such  foreigners  are 
foreigners  still,  having  no  adequate  understanding  of 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  49 

our  free  and  enlightened  institutions,  nor  any  sympathy 
with  them.  They  remain  subjects  of  foreign  nations, 
and  never,  in  the  essentials,  become  American  citi- 
zens. Through  the  efforts  of  politicians,  who  need 
them  for  election  purposes,  they  become  voters,  but 
not  intelligent  voters,  being  but  the  instruments  of  de- 
signing and  unprincipled  men  of  our  own  country,  who 
manipulate  these  foreign  votes  to  suit  their  party 
purposes. 

Having  disclosed  in  this  general  way  something  of 
the  social  and  civic  conditions  that  prevail,  let  us  pass 
to  a  more  specific  consideration  of  the  causes  for 
these  conditions,  and  consider  what  may  be  done  to 
remove,  or  at  least  materially  ameliorate,  them. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  WAGE-EARNER 

IT  is  not  within  either  the  scope  or  the  purpose  of  this 
work  to  enter  upon  any  discussion  of  the  vexatious  and 
seemingly  unending  conflict  between  Capital  and 
Labor,  except  as  it  affects  the  social  status  of  the 
laboring  people. 

The  working  class  is  by  a  sort  of  common  consent 
set  apart  as  a  class  to  themselves,  but  they  occupy 
among  themselves  very  different  stations  in  life,  and 
the  problem  here  under  discussion  affects  them  quite 
differently.  There  is  a  wide  difference  between  the 
highly-educated  and  well-paid  skilled  workman  and  the 
ignorant  and  unskilled  laborer,  who  is  in  many  in- 
stances a  foreigner  not  even  speaking  our  language. 
The  former  occupies  a  high  and  enviable  position  in 
business  and  in  society,  while  the  latter  may  be  found 
in  the  slums  and  unsanitary  buildings  that  make  for 
disease  and  immorality  and  crime.  These  two  classes 
of  working  people,  while  belonging  to  one  designated 
class,  have  practically  nothing  in  common.  The  high- 
class  workman,  well-to-do  and  independent,  finds  no 
place  in  this  work;  but  the  ignorant  and  poorly-paid 
laborer  falls  within  the  evils  and  temptations  that  all 
good  people  should  be  striving  to  mitigate,  at  least,  if 
not  destroy. 

50 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  51 

Most  of  the  lower  class  of  laborers  find  their  habitat 
in  the  densely  populated  portions  of  the  large  cities 
where  want  and  immorality  and  crime  have  full  sway. 
They  may,  although  poorly  paid,  keep  themselves  from 
want;  but  they  are  often  steeped  in  immorality  and 
crime.  To  such  as  these  environment  and  association 
mean  much.  They  breathe  the  pestilential  air  of  the 
slums  and  of  the  overcrowded  shacks  and  tenement 
houses  that  abound  in  such  places.  They  are  not  de- 
pendent on  charity,  because  they  work  by  day,  or  maybe 
by  night,  and  are  able  to  make  their  way,  such  as  it 
is. 

Here,  with  these  people,  is  the  greatest  opportunity 
for  sanitary  and  humanitarian  work.  They  need  most 
of  all  to  be  taught  how  to  live,  and  should  be  afforded 
the  opportunity  to  live  rightly.  Here  is  where  proper 
sanitary  housing  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  Such 
so-called  "homes  and  dwelling-houses"  as  they  inhabit 
should  not  be  allowed  to  exist.  They  should,  as  a 
sanitary  and  police  regulation,  be  razed  to  the  ground 
and  other  and  sanitary  dwellings  supplied  for  the  use 
of  their  inmates,  to  be  governed  by  strict  regulations 
that  will  keep  them  clean  and  decent. 

If  this  cannot  be  done  by  private  property  owners, 
let  it  be  done  by  the  State  or  city.  Never  mind  the 
cost.  We  shall  come  to  that  further  along.  This 
is  not  alone  a  question  of  decency  or  humanitarian- 
ism.  It  is  a  question  of  life  and  death  to  hundreds  of 
thousands  who  might  be  saved,  redeemed,  and  made 
good  and  useful  citizens.  When  money  is  so  plenty, 
and  when  the  bank  vaults  and  the  pockets  of  the  mil- 


52  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

lionaires  are  overflowing  with  gold  that  might  be 
devoted  to  the  saving  of  these  unfortunate  people, 
drastic  action  should  be  taken. 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  the  situation  that 
should  appeal  directly  to  the  employer  class.  The 
wages  received  by  such  laborers  are  usually  very  low, 
often  starvation  wages,  that  will  not  allow  them  to  live 
decently  or  respectably.  They  must  live  in  hovels, 
often  many  in  a  room,  in  order  to  subsist  at  all.  For 
this  condition  their  employers  are  responsible,  and  it 
is  a  terrible  responsibility.  To  make  a  man  worthy 
and  useful  you  must  make  him  self-respecting.  Liv- 
ing on  poverty  wages,  poorly  housed,  and  poorly 
clothed,  there  is  little  hope  for  any  improvement  in 
his  mental  or  moral  status.  He  has  found  his  low 
level;  he  will  keep  it  to  the  end,  and  his  children 
will  remain  just  where  he  left  them. 

Therefore,  a  living  wage  for  the  working  man  is 
one  of  the  very  first  things  to  be  brought  about,  if 
we  are  going  to  improve  his  status.  So,  too,  are  the 
conditions  under  which  he  works,  and  his  environment 
while  at  labor,  of  vital  consequence.  In  this  respect 
great  improvements  have  been  made  by  employers  of 
labor  of  late  years.  Better  places  to  work  and  in 
which  to  live  are  provided  by  the  employer.  These 
better  conditions  have  been  brought  about  in  some  in- 
stances as  a  matter  of  humanity,  but,  it  is  apprehended, 
in  most  cases  because  the  change  has  come  of  a  realiza- 
tion that  better  environment  makes  the  laborer  more 
efficient  and  adds  to  the  profits. 

Another   advance   worthy    of    commendation    and 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  53 

praise  is  the  custom  that  has  grown  up  in  some  es- 
tablishments of  giving  the  wage-earners  a  share  of 
the  profits.  This  is  important  for  more  than  one  rea- 
son. It  gives  the  worker  a  better  standing,  makes 
him  more  self-respecting,  and  removes  from  his  mind, 
to  a  great  degree,  the  feeling  that  he  is  not  being  justly 
treated, — not  getting  his  share  of  the  fruits  of  his 
own  labor. 

If  this  class  of  our  people  were  paid  fair  wages, 
living  wages;  were  furnished  with  healthful  and  com- 
fortable places  in  which  to  work,  and  were  provided 
with  sanitary  places  in  which  to  live  when  the  day's 
work  is  over,  it  would  regenerate  thousands  of  them, 
amply  repay  the  employers  who  do  their  part  in  the 
improvement  of  their  condition,  and  advance  the  public 
interests  immeasurably.  They  should  by  no  means  be 
made  the  subjects  of  charity.  They  should  be  made 
to  pay  for  what  they  get,  and  made  independent  and 
unafraid.  The  world  owes  them  an  opportunity  to 
make  a  living  and  the  right  to  live  respectably;  and 
in  turn  it  is  incumbent  on  them  to  make  good  citizens 
of  themselves  and  their  children  for  the  justice  and 
protection  that  is  meted  out  to  them. 

One  of  the  great  obstacles  to  the  elevation  of  this 
class  of  working  people  is  the  saloon.  It  steals  away 
their  meager  wages,  brutalizes  their  minds,  makes 
either  sots  or  criminals  of  many  of  them,  and  makes 
mendicants  of  their  children.  Every  effort  should  be 
made  in  aid  of  the  social  reforms  so  greatly  needed, 
for  the  benefit  of  this  class,  to  banish  the  saloon,  and 
intoxicating  liquors  from  their  places  of  habitation 


54  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

and  resorts.  The  wave  of  sentiment  in  favor  of  abso- 
lute prohibition  that  is  sweeping  over  the  country  with 
irresistible  force  will  sooner  or  later  bring  this  about, 
and  when  it  does,  a  long  step  will  be  taken  towards 
the  cleaning  out  of  these  slum  dens  of  iniquity  as 
well  as  towards  at  least  partial  redemption  of  their 
unfortunate  inhabitants. 

The  deadly  monotony  of  such  a  life,  the  day  spent 
in  uncongenial  and  unremitting  toil  and  the  night  in 
unattractive,  unhealthy,  and  degrading  surroundings, 
drive  these  unfortunate  people  to  seek  solace  in  the  sa- 
loon, which  only  reduces  their  meager  supply  and 
adds  to  their  misery.  Even  the  holidays,  which  con- 
stitute the  change,  rest  and  recreation  of  those  who 
can  afford  it,  serve  only  to  make  the  life  of  the  cheap 
laborer  harder  to  bear.  Unlike  the  salaried  employee, 
whose  compensation  is  not  interrupted,  a  holiday  means 
to  him  one  day's  loss  of  his  meager  wage,  and  to  enjoy 
an  outing  he  must  further  deplete  his  supply  by  the 
expense  his  recreation  entails. 

So  much  of  the  discomfort  of  the  man  who  depends 
upon  a  daily  wage  comes  from  the  poor  pay — the  inad- 
equate wage, — he  receives.  Sickness  suspends  that 
wage  altogether  for  the  time;  days  of  rest  do  the 
same,  making  his  living  and  that  of  his  family  more 
precarious,  and  adding  to 'the  perpetual  anxiety  and 
worry  that  attends  such  a  life.  Of  course  no  head  of 
a  family  whose  living  depends  upon  his  own  personal 
daily  exertions  is  wholly  free  from  concern  for  the 
future,  but  the  uncertainty  of  the  income  of  the  wage- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  55 

earner  makes  him  peculiarly  subject  to  the  depressing 
influence  of  apprehension. 

Whatever  may  be  done  to  relieve  the  lives  of  this 
class  of  working  people  from  this  burden  of  anxiety 
is  due  to  them  from  their  more  fortunate  fellow-man 
whose  future  is  assured,  with  a  surplus.  Worry  is 
the  deadly  enemy  not  only  to  the  peace  of  mind  but 
to  the  efficiency  of  employees  of  every  class  of  workers, 
especially  to  the  wage-earners.  To  relieve  him  from 
this  condition  the  working-man  must  be  assured  of  a 
living  wage,  a  sanitary  home,  and  surroundings  that 
make  for  health,  comfort  of  mind  and  self-respect. 
This  cannot  be  done  by  making  such  wage-earners  ob- 
jects of  charity  and  dependent  upon  others.  They 
must,  on  the  contrary,  be  made  self-reliant  and  inde- 
pendent. How  to  make  them  so  is  the  great  problem. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  VERY  POOR  AND  DEPENDENT 

MORE  unfortunate  still  are  the  very  poor  who  have, 
for  various  reasons,  ceased  to  be  wage-earners  and 
become  wholly  dependent  on  charity,  public  or  private, 
for  their  living.  Many,  if  not  most  of  these  derelicts, 
have  come  to  this  plight  for  the  very  reason  that  they 
have  lived  and  been  brought  up  in  the  slums  or  under 
unwholesome,  disease-  and  crime-breeding  environ- 
ments and  associations.  They  have  reached  this  de- 
plorable condition  through  the  indifference  and  neglect 
of  their  more  fortunate  fellow-men,  who  should  have 
guarded  them  from  the  kind  of  living  and  being  that 
has  made  them  what  they  are.  Such  wreck's  deserve 
the  sympathy,  commiseration,  and  help  due  to  the  un- 
fortunate who  have  become  the  victims  of  a  system  of 
doing,  or  not  doing,  the  things  that  would  have  saved 
these  poor  unfortunate  people  from  such  a  fate,  and 
the  public  from  their  support. 

Of  course,  not  all  the  diseased,  incompetent,  and 
criminal  element, — even  those  who  have  been  brought 
up  amidst  such  degrading  surroundings, — have  been 
made  so  by  neglect  to  provide  for  them  sanitary  homes 
and  places  to  live;  thousands  of  them  have,  however. 
These  could  have  been  saved  by  sanitary  regulations, 

56 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  57 

a  reasonable  degree  of  care  on  the  part  of  public  of- 
ficials, and  a  proper  effort  to  eradicate  the  pestholes 
of  vice,  immorality,  and  crime  that  are  found  in  every 
city  of  any  size  in  the  country. 

All  efforts  in  aid  of  this  class  of  unfortunates  should 
be  to  make  them  self-supporting  and  independent.  The 
deadly  apathy  and  indolence  of  the  hopeless  dependent, 
often  made  so  by  his  surroundings  and  environment,  is 
one  of  the  most  pathetic  objects  possible.  He  has 
lost  all  initiative,  all  industry,  all  energy,  and  has  be- 
come a  useless  and  pitiable  burden  upon  either  the 
public  or  the  more  charitable  private  citizens.  These 
wretched  people  should  first  be  placed  amid  better 
and  more  wholesome  surroundings  and  conditions  of 
living;  then  taught  to  know  that  they  are  not  de- 
pendent on  others  for  their  living,  as  very  many  of 
them  are  not,  and  after  that  be  put  to  work.  In  no 
other  way  can  they  be  aroused  from  the  condition  of 
lethargy  and  willing  dependence  upon  others  that  they 
have  reached  and  be  made  of  some  use  in  the  world. 

The  public,  as  has  been  said,  is  not  wholly  indifferent 
to  the  unhappy  condition  of  these  people.  Many  per- 
sons are,  but  some  are  not.  Millions  of  dollars  are  be- 
ing devoted  to  charity  in  these  times.  Municipal 
bodies  throughout  the  country,  civic  and  benevolent 
organizations,  churches,  and  .private  individuals  are 
contributing  to  the  effort  to  ameliorate  the  condition 
of  the  poor  and  helpless.  They  should  be  commended 
for  their  laudable  efforts  and  good  intentions ;  but  most 
of  their  efforts  are  mere  palliatives, — efforts  this 


58  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

year  that  must  be  repeated  next  year,  and  year  after 
year,  until  the  end  of  time. 

There  is  little  of  the  constructive  or  elevating  or 
regenerating  influence  in  these  benevolent  but  mis- 
guided efforts.  Instead  of  lifting  the  objects  of  their 
bounty  out  of  their  condition  of  dependence  and  sub- 
jection to  their  pitiable  lot  in  life,  they  confirm  them 
in  their  state  of  dependence  and  mental  acceptance  of 
it  as  a  matter  of  course.  Nothing  could  be  more 
fatal  to  any  effort  to  relieve  their  condition  than  this 
continuous  charitable  and  well-intentioned  perpetua- 
tion of  their  unhappy  state  and  of  their  dependence 
on  others,  when  they  should  be  made  self-respecting 
and  self-dependent.  Of  course,  there  are,  here  and 
there,  hopeless  cases  of  the  kind  where  nothing  can 
be  done  but  to  house  and  feed  and  clothe  them  as 
permanent  and  irredeemable  objects  of  charity.  But 
the  number  of  these  is  comparatively  small,  and  most 
of  them  have  reached  this  permanent  stage  of  de- 
pendency by  the  mistaken  methods  of  ministering  to 
their  wants  in  the  beginning.  Most  of  them,  if  they 
had  been  taken  out  of  the  slums  and  placed  in  sani- 
tary, decent,  and  moral  surroundings,  would  have  been 
made,  and  would  have  continued  to  be,  self-support- 
ing, self-respecting,  and  useful  citizens. 

The  cry  that  is  going  up  from  those  who  understand 
conditions  for  sanitary  housing  and  better  surround- 
ings for  the  poor  and  unfortunate  is  little  heeded  ex- 
cept by  the  few,  and  almost  not  at  all  by  public  officials ; 
but  it  is  the  one  practicable  and  effective  method  of  re- 
lieving the  less  fortunate  of  every  community  from 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  59 

the  humiliating  and  degrading  effects  of  dependence 
upon  the  charity  of  others,  and  of  sparing  the  com- 
munity the  heavy  burden  of  supporting  the  inefficient, 
non-producing  dependent  of  its  members. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   WOMEN  AND   CHILDREN 

ONE'S  heart  goes  out  in  earnest  sympathy  for  the 
women  and  children  whose  lots  have  been  cast  amid 
the  conditions  that  have  been  described.  The  sordid 
lives,  the  ceaseless  drudgery  of  mothers  of  families 
brought  up  in  such  places,  is  heartbreaking  to  any  one 
who  knows  and  appreciates  the  blessings  of  a  com- 
fortable, sanitary  home.  But  many  of  these  women 
have  spent  their  whole  lives  in  such  surroundings,  and 
have  never  known  anything  better. 

The  condition  of  the  little  children,  ragged  and  filthy 
and  in  want,  is  even  more  to  be  deplored,  and  should 
excite  the  liveliest  sympathy  of  all  good  people.  If 
not  rescued  from  this  environment  they  will  live,  those 
of  them  who  survive,  to  become  the  denizens  of  the 
slums  and  an  addition  to  the  vast  army  of  derelicts,  in- 
competents, and  criminals.  They  are  helpless  to  free 
themselves.  Happily  for  them,  perhaps,  only  a  com- 
paratively few  of  them  live  to  maturity,  some  never 
getting  beyond  their  infancy.  Listen  to  what  Jacob 
Riis,  one  of  the  most  devoted  humanitarians  and  the 
friend  of  the  poor,  said  of  evils  in  the  National  Capital 
that  affected  the  lives  of  babies  living  under  the  con- 
ditions he  depicts  so  graphically : 

60 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  61 

I  am  not  easily  discouraged.  But  I  confess  I  was  sur- 
prised by  the  sights  I  have  seen  in  the  National  Capital. 
You  people  of  Washington  have  alley  after  alley  filled 
with  people  you  know  nothing  about.  There  are  298 
such  alleys.  They  tell  me  the  death  rate  among  the  negro 
babies  born  in  these  alleys  is  457  out  of  1,000  and  before 
they  grow  up  to  the  I  year  old.  Nearly  one-half.  No- 
where I  have  ever  been  in  the  civilized  world  have  I 
heard  of  a  death  rate  like  that.  Why,  I  have  never  seen 
places  like  these  you  have  here.  .  .  . 

To  fight  your  slums  you  ought  first  of  all  to  acquire 
the  right  to  deal  with  the  evil  man  who  insists  on  mur- 
dering your  babies.  But  you  are  sure  to  run  against 
the  old  cry  of  "property  rights."  One-half  your  chil- 
dren die  in  hovels  before  they  reach  the  age  of  i  year, 
because  the  owners  would  rather  have  25  per  cent,  profit 
than  save  their  souls.  For  such  a  condition  there's  no  de- 
fense. Where  does  the  blame  lie?  With  the  owners  of 
the  slums,  you  will  probably  say.  But  it  lies  equally 
with  the  community  which  permits  such  a  shameful  and 
sinful  condition  of  affairs  to  exist  within  its  borders. 

Such  a  condition  would  almost  move  a  heart  of 
stone.  It  should  move  the  heart  of  the  whole  Ameri- 
can people.  It  should  impel  drastic  action  by  official 
bodies  in  every  city  and  community  where  the  same, 
or  similar,  conditions  prevail.  The  danger  is  not  con- 
fined to  the  inmates  of  these  places.  Diseases  are 
generated  there  and  sent  out  broadcast  to  more  favor- 
able spots.  Such  pestholes  plant  the  seeds  of  disease 
and  crime  that  may  affect,  and  often  destroy,  the  lives 
and  contaminate  the  morals  of  thousands  whose  homes 


62  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

are  elsewhere,  and  who  in  time  gravitate  to  these  places 
where  vice  and  crime  abound. 

There  is  but  one  immediate  and  effective  remedy  for 
this  frightful  condition.  These  places  of  iniquity  must 
be  completely  destroyed,  to  be  replaced  by  sanitary  and 
respect-inspiring  conditions.  The  sunlight  of  civilized 
and  healthful  living  must  be  let  into  these  dark  places. 
There  must  follow  a  systematic  course  of  education  of 
the  people,  especially  the  mothers  and  the  children,  as 
to  the  importance  to  them  of  sanitation  and  right  liv- 
ing. It  is  a  great  undertaking;  but  these  obstacles  to 
better  living  are  not  insurmountable.  Much  is  being 
done  now  by  a  few  deserving  and  courageous  souls 
to  remove  them,  which  efforts  will  be  commented  upon 
further  along  with  the  appreciation  that  their  com- 
mendable work  on  behalf  of  these  poor  unfortunates 
deserves. 

Under  the  stress  and  strain  of  the  war,  with  the 
bread-winner,  poor  though  he  may  be,  in  the  military 
service,  the  condition  of  these  poor  people  has  been 
made  even  worse  than  before.  While  the  rich  and 
idle  women  who  never  gave  them  a  thought  are  aroused 
to  action  by  the  entry  of  our  American  soldiers  into 
the  war,  and  are  giving  generously  of  their  time  and 
money  to  add  to  the  fighters'  comfort,  the  poor  and 
the  laboring  classes,  who  are  leading  lives  of  mean 
sordid  drudgery,  often  in  misery  and  want,  are  for- 
gotten and  left  to  suffer.  Not  only  this.  The  few 
who  were  accustomed  to  aid  such  as  these  are  diverted 
by  the  war  from  their  former  generous  and  helpful  aid 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  63 

of  these  sufferers  and  have  transferred  their  time  and 
their  generosity  to  aiding  the  soldiers. 

Too  much  cannot  be  done  for  the  soldiers  who  are 
offering  up  their  lives  to  their  country.  But  they  are 
not  objects  of  charity.  They  are  being  fed  and  clothed, 
housed  and  paid  by  their  Government,  while  the  wives 
and  mothers  and  sisters  at  home  are  suffering  want 
and  privations  and  disease.  Why  should  these  women 
be  neglected  for  the  soldiers?  Is  there  not  money 
enough,  wealth  enough,  charity  and  sympathy  enough 
in  this  great  country  to  provide  for  these  people  homes 
fit  for  human  beings  to  live  in,  and  still  do  everything 
necessary  for  the  comfort  of  the  soldiers?  The  woman 
left  at  home,  under  the  best  of  circumstances,  with 
her  son  or  husband  in  the  army,  suffers  far  more 
than  does  the  son  or  husband  at  the  front.  The  weary 
heartbreaking  days  and  months,  maybe  years,  of 
anxious  waiting ;  the  terror  and  anguish  with  which  she 
waits  for  the  news  of  every  battle  and  scans  the  list 
of  the  dead  and  wounded, — the  victims  of  cruel  and 
unnecessary  war, — is  worse  than  death. 

Then,  again,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  mothers  of 
the  poor  and  laboring  classes  who,  in  addition  to  these 
sorrows  common  to  all  mothers,  are  struggling  daily 
for  bread,  tortured  with  the  constant  dread  of  poverty 
and  want.  What  of  the  wives  of  soldiers  bearing  the 
burdens  such  conditions  impose,  trying  to  keep  life  in 
the  bodies  of  their  children  while  bearing  the  same 
burdens  of  sorrow  and  anguish  that  weigh  upon  their 
more  fortunate  sisters.  Why  do  not  the  favored  rich, 
the  society  women  who  are  giving  so  generously  to  the 


64  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

soldiers,  extend  their  help  and  encouragement,  their 
charity,  to  the  unfortunate  poor  who,  as  a  result  of 
the  war  are  suffering  far  more  than  are  they.  And 
why  should  such  women,  who  never  thought  of  it 
before,  become  suddenly  generous  and  sympathetic 
and  charitable, — and  that  to  the  soldiers  alone  ? 

Why,  if  half  the  energy  and  money  and  time  that 
have  been  so  deservedly  bestowed  upon  the  soldiers 
since  the  war  commenced,  had  been  devoted  from  year 
to  year  to  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of  the  poor, 
there  would  be  no  slums,  no  unsanitary  homes,  no 
mothers  struggling  with  poverty,  no  children  living 
in  squalor,  filth,  and  want. 

If  the  war  shall  arouse  in  the  minds  of  the  men  and 
women  of  the  country  a  spirit  of  sympathy  for  the 
suffering  and  needs  of  their  unfortunate  fellow-men, 
a  spirit  of  generosity  and  helpfulness  and  coopera- 
tion for  all  who  need  their  help,  a  true  sense  of  their 
duty  to  their  fellows,  and  this  shall  be  permanent  and 
lasting,  the  war,  horrible  as  it  is,  will  not  be  in  vain. 
But  will  this  spirit  of  sympathy  and  helpfulness  be 
permanent  and  lasting?  Will  it  continue  after  the  war 
and  extend  to  the  helpless  and  needy,  who  in  time  of 
peace  need  their  sympathy  and  help  more  than  do 
the  soldiers  in  time  of  war?  Has  it  needed  this  great 
war  to  shock  the  consciences  of  the  American  people 
into  a  due  sense  of  their  duty  to  their  fellow-men,  and 
will  they,  when  the  shock  of  war  is  over,  return  again 
to  their  selfish  pursuits,  their  extravagances,  their 
fruitless  search  for  joy  and  happiness  in  idle  amuse- 
ments and  high  society;  or  will  their  consciences  be 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  65 

awakened  by  the  sufferings  of  the  war  to  a  sense  of 
their  obligations  to  others  in  time  of  peace? 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  while  most  of  the  men 
of  the  country  have  given  up  their  lives  to  the  pur- 
suit of  wealth  to  the  exclusion  of  every  sense  of  gen- 
erosity or  helpfulness  for  others,  the  wives  and 
daughters  of  these  same  men  have  been  frittering  away 
their  time  and  wasting  their  precious  lives  in  the  gay 
rounds  of  extravagance,  high  living,  overdressing,  and 
all  the  things  that  go  to  make  up  present-day  society. 
This  condition  is  not  only  a  reproach  to  the  individuals 
thus  wasting  their  time  and  substance,  it  is  a  reflection 
upon  the  whole  country  and  its  manhood. 

It  is  well  for  the  country  and  its  future  that  not 
all  American  women  lead  such  selfish  and  useless  lives. 
There  are  many  generous-hearted,  unselfish,  and 
courageous  women,  both  rich  and  poor,  whose  lives 
and  fortunes  are  devoted  to  the  common  good, — 
women  who  go  out  into  the  highways  and  byways, 
into  the  slums  and  houses  of  poverty,  and  use  their 
means,  their  time,  and  their  example  for  the  allevia- 
tion of  suffering,  the  better  education  of  the  poor,  and 
all  that  goes  to  elevate  the  thought  and  modes  of  liv- 
ing of  the  lower  classes  who  have  not  yet  learned 
either  how  to  think  or  how  to  live.  Not  only  the  poor 
people,  who  benefit  directly  by  their  generous  minis- 
trations, but  the  whole  country, — yea,  the  whole  world, 
— owes  them  a  great  debt  of  gratitude.  Not  only  are 
they  making  better  the  lives  of  these  unfortunates 
and  adding  to  their  comforts  and  enjoyment;  they  are 
making  them  better  and  more  useful  citizens;  they  are 


66  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

lessening  crime,  and  reducing  the  number  of  criminals. 
They  are,  too,  leavening  the  lump  of  evil,  poverty, 
want,  degradation,  and  crime  and  making  the  world  a 
better  place  for  us  all  to  live  in. 

It  is  sincerely  hoped  that  the  suffering  and  afflic- 
tions of  the  war  will  soften  the  hearts  of  the  indif- 
ferent, make  the  selfish  more  generous,  and  add  to  the 
number  of  those  who  have  been  giving  up  their  lives 
to  the  effort  to  bring  about  the  great  social  reforms 
that  will  banish  class  distinction,  bring  capitalist  and 
laborer  into  harmony  of  purpose  and  friendly  coopera- 
tion, and  banish  poverty  and  want  from  a  country  too 
rich  and  powerful  to  tolerate  such  conditions,  if  only 
its  people  were  thinking  right. 

After  all,  it  is  a  question  of  right  thinking.  It  is  a 
mental  condition.  The  minds  of  too  many  of  us  are 
obsessed  with  the  idea  of  our  own  advantage,  without 
regard  to  others;  with  self,  to  the  exclusion  of  every- 
body else.  While  this  is  our  way  of  thinking  the 
brotherhood  of  man  can  find  no  place  with  us.  It  is 
"every  fellow  for  himself,"  and  the  average  man  of 
the  time  thinks  of  that,  and  altogether  too  often  of 
that  only. 

The  war  has,  for  the  time,  put  us  all  on  the  same 
footing.  The  wage-earner  is  worth  just  as  much  on 
the  battlefield,  or  in  the  trenches,  as  the  millionaire, 
generally  more.  The  mother  of  the  wage-earner,  the 
mother  of  the  poor  boy  who  gives  his  life  to  his 
country,  has  as  a  mother  done  as  much  as  has  the 
mother  of  the  rich  son.  She  bears  the  same  burden  of 
sorrow,  anguish,  and  affliction  along  with  the  added 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  67 

one  of  poverty  and  privation.  Each  has  contributed 
to  the  war  the  greatest  of  her  treasures,  and  each  is 
entitled  to  the  same  consideration  and  appreciation 
as  is  due  the  other.  Why  should  there  be  any  class 
distinction  between  the  two,  either  in  time  of  war  or 
in  days  of  peace,  based  on  worldly  possessions  or 
more  favorable  conditions  that  have  placed  them,  in 
a  purely  worldly  sense,  in  different  stations  in  life? 
It  is  a  false  and  unwarranted  distinction. 

The  services  rendered  and  the  sacrifices  made  by  the 
wage-earners  in  this  war  should  bring  us  to  the  realiza- 
tion of  the  importance  of  the  laboring  men  and  women, 
and  serve  to  break  down  this  false  barrier  founded 
on  mere  class  distinctions. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE    CRIMINALS 

Too  often  poverty, — extreme  poverty  especially, — 
and  crime  go  hand  in  hand,  and  are  found  in  the  same 
habitations  and  surroundings.  This  has  its  different 
causes.  Often  poverty  and  want  drive  men  and  women 
to  criminal  practices  as  a  means  of  relieving  their  ne- 
cessities. Extreme  poverty  is  the  destroyer  of  self- 
respect  and  self-esteem,  which  makes  the  victim  of  it 
the  more  ready  and  willing  to  resort  to  evil  ways.  He 
very  naturally  argues  with  himself :  "What  can  be  a 
worse  condition  than  this.  If  I  can  add  to  my  means 
of  living  by  becoming  a  criminal  I  have  gained  that 
much.  If  I  am  caught  and  must  go  to  prison,  what 
have  I  lost?  How  much  worse  will  prison  life  be 
than  that  I  am  now  living?" 

The  temptation  to  crime  is  ever  present  to  the  minds 
of  these  unfortunate  people,  and  many  of  them  who, 
under  more  favorable  conditions,  would  be  good  and 
useful  members  of  society  yield  to  the  temptation,  join 
the  criminal  class,  and  still  continue  to  be  poor.  Their 
lot  is  not  improved  but  made  worse.  But  they  neither 
reason  about  it  nor  think  about  the  future.  It  is  the 
present, — the  hard,  forbidding,  heartbreaking  present, 
— that  moves  them  in  the  wrong  direction,  and  often 

68 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  69 

makes  them  confirmed  and  hardened  criminals.  It  is 
the  same  regarding  the  tendency  towards  immorality 
of  the  very  poor  whose  lives  are  so  dreary  and  so  de- 
pressing. Anything  to  break  the  monotony  and  divert 
the  mind  from  the  thought  of  it! 

Necessarily  the  amusements  that  such  people  are 
able  to  have  are  of  the  lowest  and  most  debasing.  The 
slums  and  the  homes  of  the  very  poor  are  such  as  to 
breed  both  immorality  and  crime.  It  is  with  im- 
morality as  it  is  with  criminal  practices.  Too  many  of 
the  denizens  of  these  places  have  no  better  future 
to  look  forward  to.  His  self-respect  is  gone.  He  is 
ready  to  abandon  himself  to  any  kind  of  diversion  to 
relieve  the  situation.  He  cares  nothing  for  what  may 
once  have  been  a  good  name.  "Why  not  have  a  good 
time,  and  who  cares  how  I  get  it !"  he  cries.  "Not  I, 
for  one;  and  who  else  is  there  to  care?"  The  drudgery 
of  poverty,  the  indifference  of  his  fellow-men  to  his 
condition,  the  environment,  association,  and  influence 
all  tend  to  evil,  not  to  good. 

Besides  the  evil  influences  that  live  in  these  places 
and  make  for  immorality  and  crime,  the  places  them- 
selves naturally  become  the  habitats  and  hiding-places 
of  those  who  have  already  become  criminals.  Mem- 
bers of  this  class  naturally  gravitate  to  these  unwhole- 
some places  and  seek  them,  to  escape  the  vigilance  of 
the  officers  of  the  law,  and  there  make  their  head- 
quarters ;  whence  they  prey  upon  the  public  and  escape 
observation  and  detection. 

In  a  circular  dealing  with  this  subject,  issued  by 
the  Monday  Evening  Club  of  Washington,  D.  C,  Wil- 


70  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

bur  Vincent  Mallalieu,  in  speaking  of  the  slums,  called 
"courts"  in  that  city,  had  this  to  say : 

The  moral  conditions  in  such  a  secluded  inclosure  as 
this  court  can  scarcely  be  imagined.  The  police  who 
have  to  do  with  it  agree  in  speaking  of  its  disreputable 
character.  One  officer  has  remarked  that  it  is  the  worst 
place  in  the  United  States  and  that  there  is  no  crime 
unknown  to  it.  The  police  blotter  of  the  precinct  shows 
that  from  March  i,  1911,  to  March  i,  1912,  there  were 
114  arrests  among  the  204  men,  women,  and  children 
living  in  Snow's  Court.  The  charges  were  drunkenness, 
disorderly  conduct,  assault,  unlawful  assembly,  larceny, 
cruelty  to  animals,  and  accusations  relating  to  sexual 
crimes.  Nor  does  this  number  of  cases  represent  all  the 
evil,  because  it  does  not  take  into  account  residents  of 
Snow's  Court  arrested  in  other  precincts,  nor  does  it  in- 
clude the  mischief  done  in  Snow's  Court  by  inhabitants 
of  the  neighboring  alleys  and  residents  of  other  parts  of 
the  city.  .  .  . 

Snow's  Court  is  a  peril  to  our  Capital's  life.  Only  an 
awakened  public  conscience  that  shall  demand  the  aboli- 
tion of  this  and  other  pest  centers  will  rid  the  city  of 
very  grave  dangers. 

What  is  said  here  of  Snow's  Court  may  be  said  of 
thousands  of  other  places  throughout  the  country. 

What  a  reproach  it  is  upon  the  civilization,  the 
Christianity,  the  humanity  of  the  people  of  this 
country!  If  we  think  or  speak  about  it  at  all  we  sat- 
isfy our  consciences  by  saying,  "It  must  be  so,  it  can- 
not be  helped,  the  poor,  the  immoral,  the  criminal 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  71 

classes  we  must  have  with  us.  It  is  inevitable.  It  has 
always  been  so,  and  will  be  so  to  the  end." 

What  a  cowardly, — what  an  uncivilized  and  un- 
Christian  way  of  looking  upon  a  condition  so  serious, 
so  appalling !  It  is  not  so,  and  every  upright  and  think- 
ing man  and  woman  knows  it  is  not  so.  Then  why  not 
go  to  work  at  once  to  prove  its  falsity  ?  For  the  simple 
reason  that  what  is  everybody's  business  is  generally 
nobody's  business.  It  is  so  easy  to  let  things  go  along 
as  they  are.  "It  does  not  affect  me;  why  should  I 
trouble  myself  about  it?"  is  the  answer.  Too  many 
people  think  those  who  live  in  these  places,  which  they 
have  allowed  to  grow  up  and  continue  to  exist,  are  not 
worth  saving.  "What  if  they  are  immoral?  It  does 
not  concern  me.  What  if  they  are  criminals?  We 
have  our  courts  and  our  prisons,  they  will  take  care 
of  them.  Why  should  I  bother  about  it?  There  is 
nothing  I  can  do,  anyhow.  What  if  these  pestholes 
do  breed  disease  and  destroy  the  lives  of  their  in- 
habitants? neither  I  nor  any  of  mine  live  there.  It  is 
no  concern  of  mine."  These  are  the  prevailing  ex- 
cuses for  our  deadly  inaction.  What  a  narrow  view  to 
take  of  man's  duty  to  man!  What  criminal  neglect 
and  indifference  lurks  in  such  feelings  and  sentiments, 
and  what  lives  are  sacrificed,  what  misery  results  from 
this  attitude  of  carelessness  and  indifference  to  the 
welfare  of  the  poor  and  dependent,  even  the  criminal, 
classes ! 

But  is  it  true  that  the  more  fortunate,  the  rich  and 
well-to-do,  are  not  concerned  about  these  conditions? 
Have  penury  and  want,  crime  and  disease  no  meaning 


72  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

to  them?  Have  these  happier  beings  no  obligation 
resting  upon  them  to  eradicate  the  evils  that  bring 
about  these  calamities?  Have  these  conditions  and 
their  inevitable  consequences  no  effect  upon  the  gen- 
eral body  of  our  citizenship,  and  upon  our  standards 
of  virtue  and  righteousness?  The  man  of  wealth  and 
influence  who  deludes  himself  with  the  belief,  or  the 
thought,  that  these  unwholesome  and  devastating  con- 
ditions do  not  and  cannot  touch  him,  and  who  in  his 
false  sense  of  security  is  doing  nothing  for  the  needy 
and  unfortunate,  has  much  to  answer  for.  None  of 
us  can  be  wholly  free  from  the  influences  and  effects  of 
such  evil  conditions,  however  much  we  may  strive  to 
know  the  nothingness  and  want  of  power  of  all  evil. 
They  must  be  known  and  understood,  in  order  to  be 
destroyed.  In  every  right  sense, — in  the  sense  that 
they  are  things  to  be  destroyed, — they  are  not  real,  and 
must  eventually  be  overcome  by  good.  But  this  is 
not  going  to  be  done  by  treating  them  with  indifference 
and  allowing  them  to  exist  and  flourish  in  our  midst. 
They  can  not  be  overcome  by  the  mere  spending  of 
money,  or  by  charity.  They  must  be  reached  and 
destroyed  by  a  higher  sense  of  good  than  this.  How- 
ever, material  means  rightly  directed  will  do  wonders 
in  the  removal  of  the  causes  that  have  brought  about 
these  conditions  and  in  the  placing  of  their  victims  on 
a  higher  plane  of  worldly  comfort. 

If  we  look  at  it  from  the  standpoint  of  mere 
economy  or  money  interests,  the  cleaning  out  of  these 
places  is  fully  justifiable.  Our  prisons,  our  hospitals, 
our  almshouses,  and  our  insane  asylums  are  largely 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  73 

supplied  from  the  slums,  and  other  places  of  poverty 
and  want  and  crime.  The  inhabitants  of  these  purlieus, 
when  convicted  of  petty  offenses  against  the  laws,  are 
sent  to  prison  for  a  brief  time,  and  when  released  they 
return  there  and  again  offend,  to  be  again  sent  to 
prison;  and  this  in  many  cases  is  repeated  again  and 
again.  Let  them  be  released  from  any  kind  of  de- 
tention, they  go  back  to  their  old  habitation  that  has 
been  the  cause  of  their  misfortunes.  They  must;  they 
have  no  other  place  to  go.  An  indifferent  government 
provides  them  no  other  better  place  in  which  to  live. 
So,  month  after  month,  year  after  year,  we  pay  the 
enormous  expenses  that  grow  out  of  these  conditions, 
and  the  poor  wretches  that  become  criminals  and  pub- 
lic charges  continue  to  suffer  the  consequences  of  the 
public  neglect. 

Laying  aside  all  sentiment,  all  sense  of  sympathy, 
humanity,  and  man's  duty  to  his  fellows,  and  putting 
the  case  on  the  lower  level  of  business,  it  would  be  a 
vast  saving  to  the  public,  if  these  places, — the  homes  of 
disease  and  immorality  and  the  rendezvous  of  crim- 
inals,— were  completely  removed,  and  sanitary  places 
of  abode  provided  at  public  expense,  no  matter  what 
the  cost. 

When  will  public  officials  come  to  see  this  palpable 
fact  and  act  accordingly  in  the  public  interest! 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   PUBLIC   HEALTH 

THE  slum  is  a  menace  not  only  to  the  health  of  its 
inhabitants  but  to  that  of  the  public  as  well.  The 
deadly  miasma  of  such  places  cannot  be  confined  with- 
in their  own  limits  or  to  the  people  who  inhabit  them. 
They  and  their  effects  extend  at  times  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  cities  in  which  they  are  located,  and  the 
residents  of  the  most  favored  portions  of  the  city 
are  made  their  victims.  The  self-satisfied  and  indif- 
ferent rich  who  suffer  such  conditions  to  exist,  some- 
times almost  at  the  very  door  of  their  palatial  homes, 
are  not  infrequently  the  victims  of  the  diseases  that 
are  generated  in  the  slum  districts  and  are  carried  to 
the  outside. 

Boards  of  health  and  other  benevolent  organizations 
as  well  as  private  citizens  struggle  faithfully  and 
courageously  to  meet  these  conditions  and  prevent 
the  spread  of  the  diseases  that  so  generally  come  out 
of  such  modes  of  living;  but  in  a  large  measure  their 
efforts  result  in  failure.  They  help  to  make  a  fear- 
fully bad  and  inexcusable  condition  a  little  better. 
They  no  doubt  save  many  lives,  and  prevent  much  suf- 
fering. But  this  is  not  what  is  most  needed.  No 
one  should  be  called  upon  to  work  amid  such  sur- 

74 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  75 

roundings  or  to  attempt  to  save  mankind  from  such 
conditions.  The  conditions  should  not  be  allowed  to 
exist  for  a  day  in  any  civilized  city  or  community.  We 
must  go  to  the  root  of  the  evil,  destroy  these  pestholes 
of  disease  and  make  unnecessary  these  efforts  to  pro- 
tect the  poor  and  unfortunate  from  their  corrupting  ef- 
fects. 

This  phase  of  the  subject,  the  remedy  for  these 
conditions,  will  be  taken  up  more  in  detail  further  on 
in  this  work;  but  the  opportunity  should  never  be 
missed  to  insist  upon  and  emphasize  the  fact  that  there 
is  but  one  effective  remedy  for  these  conditions  and 
the  evils  that  flow  from  them,  and  that  is :  their  com- 
plete eradication. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SANITARY  HOUSING 

ONE  of  the  most  important  questions  affecting  the 
effort  to  better  the  condition  of  the  poor, — especially 
the  victims  of  cheap  labor  who  live  in  unsanitary 
hovels  and  shacks,  or  in  overcrowded  tenement  houses, 
— is:  How  and  by  whom  is  this  to  be  brought  about? 
It  must  be  obvious  that  the  first  great  step  towards 
relieving  this  situation  is  to  provide  these  people  with 
sanitary  homes,  and  the  next  is  so  to  police  and  super- 
vise them  as  to  keep  them  clean,  wholesome,  and  sani- 
tary. 

To  bring  this  about  the  first  thing  to  be  done  is  to 
root  out  and  destroy  the  unsanitary  dwelling-places  of 
these  unfortunates  and  replace  them  with  homes  fit 
for  human  habitation ;  the  next  to  teach  the  people  how 
to  live  and  keep  their  homes  fit  to  live  in.  This  should 
not  be  done  as  a  charity.  These  people  should  be 
taught  independence ;  and  they  should  not  be  treated  as 
objects  of  charity.  Nothing  could  be  more  destructive 
of  their  self-respect.  They  should  be  provided,  at  pub- 
lic expense,  with  suitable  places  in  which  to  live  and 
made  to  pay  a  reasonable  sum  in  the  way  of  rent  for 
the  homes  thus  provided  for  them.  Of  course,  the 
men  who  are  renting  at  exorbitant  prices  the  unsani- 

76 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  77 

tary  places  in  which  they  are  living,  will  raise  con- 
stitutional objections  to  measures  of  this  kind.  But 
whenever  it  can  be  shown  that  such  places  are  unsani- 
tary and  dangerous  to  lives  and  health,  the  steps  neces- 
sary to  abate  the  nuisance  and  supply  healthful  homes 
may  be  taken  as  a  police  regulation  and  in  aid  of  the 
public  health.  To  accomplish  these  reforms,  property 
may  be  condemned  and  used  to  secure  and  conserve 
the  public  health  and  suppress  crime. 

It  is  impossible  to  do  this  as  a  private  enterprise, 
no  matter  how  laudable  the  purpose  of  private  indi- 
viduals may  be.  This  has  been  tried  over  and  over 
again,  and  practically  nothing  has  been  accomplished. 
Such  private  organizations  have  no  police  power  of 
regulation  and  control  of  the  tenants  which  is  vitally 
necessary  to  accomplish  the  needed  results.  As  a  rule, 
they  are  business  enterprises  organized  for  profit,  and 
some  of  them  have  made  money.  That  is  their  prime 
object  and  purpose.  Incidentally,  they  have,  in  a 
measure,  improved  the  homes  and  living  of  some  of 
the  poor,  and  kept  their  occupants  out  of  the  slums. 
To  this  extent  these  efforts  have  been  beneficial  and 
should  have  credit.  But  the  benefits,  in  view  of  exist- 
ing conditions,  have  been  infinitesimal.  They  have  not 
removed  the  slums  and  other  objectionable  places  of 
abode.  They  still  continue  to  exist  and  flourish.  This 
is  not  what  is  needed,  nor  is  it  what  must  be  done  to 
make  this  reform  complete  and  lasting. 

What  is  here  said  is  not  intended  to  belittle  or  dis- 
parage the  work  done  by  generous-hearted  people  who 
have  faithfully  endeavored,  out  of  pure  benevolence, 


78  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

to  help  these  poor  people.  Their  efforts  to  this  end 
should  be  commended  and  encouraged;  but  we  cannot 
conceal  from  ourselves  the  lamentable  fact  that  they 
are  only  palliatives  and  not  effective  to  remove  and 
destroy  the  evil.  It  helps  to  ease  the  sufferings  and 
privations  of  the  victims  of  this  kind  of  living ;  but  to 
be  effective  and  lasting,  more  drastic  remedies  must 
be  resorted  to.  This  cancerous  growth  on  the  body 
politic  must  be  cut  out  to  the  very  roots,  if  we  are  to 
reach  results  that  are  worth  while. 

One  of  the  melancholy  failures  of  attempts  to  re- 
lieve this  situation  came  about  through  the  sympathetic 
efforts  of  Mrs.  Ellen  Wilson,  former  wife  of  the 
President  of  the  United  States.  As  mistress  of  the 
White  House,  during  her  brief  residence  there  she  be- 
came greatly  interested  in  the  condition  of  the  poor 
in  the  National  Capital.  She  personally  visited  the 
slums  and  other  places  where  the  poor  were  con- 
gregated. She  showed  the  greatest  sympathy  for  these 
unfortunates,  and  called  meetings  of  prominent  men 
and  women  at  the  White  House,  to  devise  and  carry 
out  some  means  of  relieving  conditions;  doing  what 
she  could  to  arouse  the  public  and  the  Congress  to  a 
realization  of  the  actual  conditions  and  the  necessity 
of  removing  them. 

Unfortunately,  the  generous  efforts  of  this  good 
woman  were  cut  short  by  her  untimely  death.  She  was 
the  friend  of  the  poor,  earnestly  desirous  of  better- 
ing their  condition,  but  the  consummation  of  her  de- 
sires must  be  left  to  others.  The  sad  condition  of 
the  unfortunate  people  whose  homes  of  desolation  and 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  79 

want  she  had  visited  was  in  her  mind  up  to  the  very 
last.  In  furtherance  of  her  expressed  desires,  some 
of  her  friends  who  had  been  acting  with  her  secured 
from  Congress  an  Act  incorporating  the  "Ellen  Wil- 
son Memorial  Homes,"  intended  to  carry  out  her  pur- 
poses. In  the  Act  the  purposes  of  the  corporation 
were  declared  to  be 

To  acquire,  hold,  improve,  rent,  mortgage,  sell  and 
convey  real  estate  within  the  District  of  Columbia  for 
building,  in  memory  of  the  late  Mrs.  Woodrow  Wilson, 
one  or  more  blocks  of  sanitary  houses  for  the  working 
classes,  and  renting  the  same  at  a  rental  sufficiently  low 
to  cause  the  abandonment  of  dilapidated  and  insanitary 
houses,  as  an  object  lesson  in  the  housing  of  the  working 
classes,  under  good  conditions,  and  at  reasonable  rates. 

This  was  a  commendable  effort  in  the  right  direc- 
tion. But  the  value  of  the  property  to  be  acquired  by 
the  corporation  was  limited  to  $500,000.  The  Act 
fixed  the  amount  of  the  capital  stock  at  $25,000,  di- 
vided into  shares  of  $1,000  each,  and  authorized  it  to 
commence  business  when  that  amount  was  realized  by 
the  sale  of  the  stock.  The  amount  was  never  realized  ; 
the  corporation  never  commenced  business.  This 
laudable  effort  proved  to  be  a  lamentable  failure. 
Nothing  else  could  reasonably  have  been  expected. 
Avowedly,  the  thing  to  be  done  was  not  intended  or 
expected  to  be  effective  in  and  of  itself,  as  it  was  de- 
clared in  the  Act  to  be  only  an  "object  lesson." 

Very  earnest  and  prolonged  efforts  were  made  by 
the  friends  of  the  working-classes  and  of  Mrs.  Wil- 


8o  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

son,  who  had  devoted  herself  to  their  interests,  to 
secure  the  necessary  subscriptions  to  the  stock  and 
thus  carry  out  the  objects  of  the  corporation;  but 
evidently  the  effort  proved  attractive  neither  to  the 
business  investor  nor  to  the  charitably  disposed,  and, 
as  an  "object  lesson,"  the  effort  only  went  to  prove 
the  obvious  fact  that  the  object  all  good  people  should 
have  at  heart  cannot  be  successfully  and  efficiently 
carried  out  by  private  corporations,  private  initiative, 
or  private  energy.  It  is  a  public  charge  and  should 
and  must,  to  be  effective,  be  carried  out  by  the  public 
authorities  and  at  public  expense. 

Under  a  resolution  of  the  United  States  Senate  call- 
ing for  such  information,  the  Commissioners  of  the 
District  of  Columbia  made  a  report  of  the  names  and 
places  of  residence  of  landowners  who  were  renting 
property  within  the  District.  It  tends  to  show  the 
number  of  dwellings  in  these  alleys  in  the  City  of 
Washington.  The  report  named  one  hundred  and 
twenty-four  of  these  inhabited  alleys,  and  stated  that 
eleven  hundred  and  sixty-nine  pieces  of  property  were 
rented  therein. 

But  this  does  not  tell  the  whole  story.  Many  of 
these  property-owners  rented  several  places  within 
these  alleys, — some  of  them  as  high  as  ten  or  a  dozen ; 
two  as  high  as  seventeen,  and  one,  twenty-six  separate 
places.  So  the  actual  number  of  separate  places  rented 
amounted  to  twenty-five  hundred  and  twelve. 

If  we  take  five  persons  to  each  of  these  places,  which, 
considering  how  they  are  crowded,  is  a  moderate  es- 
timate, we  have  twelve  thousand  souls  living  in  alleys 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  81 

in  the  City  of  Washington.  Not  all  of  the  alleys  in 
which  these  people  live  can  properly  by  classed  as 
slums,  but  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  are  slums,  while 
they  are  all  likely  to  become  such.  At  all  events, 
alleys  are  not  generally  regarded  as  suitable  places  in 
which  to  house  human  beings.  They  are  usually  re- 
served for  horses  and  other  animals,  and  one  great 
step  towards  relieving  all  cities  of  the  odium  of  per- 
mitting such  conditions  to  exist  would  be  to  forbid 
the  erection  or  occupation  of  dwelling-houses  in  any 
alley. 

These  conditions  that  prevail,  in  greater  or  less  de- 
gree, in  every  city  in  the  country  cannot  be  corrected 
by  the  ordinary  processes  and  machinery  of  govern- 
ment and  through  the  agencies  usually  provided  for 
suppressing  vice,  preventing  disease,  or  for  the  re- 
lief of  the  poor.  It  must,  to  be  successful  and  per- 
manent, be  taken  up  specially  and  with  a  view  of  ex- 
terminating these  places  where  disease  and  vice  and 
poverty  are  generated,  and  not  merely  to  try  to  offset 
their  effects  and  afford  temporary  relief  to  their  vic- 
tims. That  has  been  the  weakness  and  the  vice  of  the 
usual  mode  of  dealing  with  this  vital  question. 

The  author  attempted  while  in  the  Senate  to  in- 
augurate a  movement  in  Congress  affecting  the  City 
of  Washington,  which,  if  it  should  be  successful,  might 
be  an  incentive  to  other  cities  and  in  time  spread  all 
over  the  country  with  gratifying  results.  To  this 
end  he  introduced  in  the  Senate  the  following  resolu- 
tion : 


82  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 


JOINT   RESOLUTION 

Providing   for  a  Housing  Commission,   and   for   other 
Purposes 

Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled, 
That  the  President  be,  and  he  is  hereby,  directed  to  ap- 
point a  commission  of  five  persons,  three  women  and  two 
men,  who  shall  serve  without  compensation,  to  devise 
plans  and  the  means  of  caring  for  and  housing  the  in- 
digent, improvident,  and  needy  population  of  the  District 
of  Columbia,  to  be  known  as  the  Housing  Commission. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  said  commission  to  ascertain 
and  report  to  the  President,  who  shall  transmit  the  same 
to  Congress,  with  his  own  views  thereon  and  any  sug- 
gestions he  may  desire  to  make,  the  following : 

First.  A  suitable  location  for  a  sufficient  number 
of  model  sanitary  houses  for  the  accommodation  of  such 
persons  as  should  be  cared  for  under  the  direction  of 
the  National  Government. 

Second.  The  kind  and  probable  cost  of  such  suitable 
houses  as  may  be  needed  for  the  proper  housing  and 
care  of  such  persons. 

Third.  The  best  means  of  renting  or  otherwise  pro- 
viding such  houses  for  persons  able  to  make  compensa- 
tion therefor. 

Fourth.  The  best  and  most  practicable  way  of  polic- 
ing, superintending  and  securing  proper  care  and  sani- 
tation of  such  houses,  and  the  grounds  provided  for  their 
construction,  and  of  improving  the  moral  and  sanitary 
conditions  of  the  people  so  provided  for. 

Fifth.    Any  other  data  or  facts  that  the  commission 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  83 

may  desire  to  submit  and  suggestions  it  may  desire  to 
make  as  to  the  kind  of  legislation  needed  to  carry  out 
such  plans  as  it  may  report  for  the  better  housing  and 
care  of  such  persons. 

The  resolution  was  favorably  reported  by  the  Senate 
Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  passed 
by  the  Senate.  It  was  hoped  that  this  would  con- 
stitute the  beginning  of  a  movement  that  would  re- 
lieve the  city  of  Washington  of  its  slums;  but  the  good 
people  who  were  looking  and  hoping  for  something 
that  would  reach  that  result  were  greatly  disappointed 
as  the  House  of  Representatives  failed  to  pass  the 
resolution.  So  that  effort  failed. 

Then  an  effort  was  made  to  reach  and  eradicate  the 
evil  directly  by  the  introduction  of  a  bill  providing 
as  follows: 

That  the  Commissioners  of  the  District  of  Columbia 
are  hereby  authorized  and  directed  to  acquire  title  for 
the  Government  to  all  property  now  constituting  and 
classified  as  slums,  inhabitated  courts,  or  other  places  so 
improved  and  maintained  as  to  render  them  detrimental 
to  health  and  morals,  for  the  purpose  of  razing  the 
buildings  situate  thereon  and  maintaining  thereon,  as 
hereinafter  provided,  sanitary  dwelling  houses  for  the 
use  of  tenants. 

That  upon  acquiring  title  to  said  property  the  said 
commissioners  shall  cause  the  buildings  thereon  to  be 
removed,  the  said  property  replatted  with  ample  streets 
and  passageways  and  means  of  ingress  and  egress,  and 
construct  thereon  model  sanitary  houses  of  moderate 
size  to  be  rented  by  the  Government  to  the  poor  and 


84  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

the  laboring  classes  at  reasonable  and  moderate  rentals. 

That  the  Government  shall  hold  and  retain  title  to 
said  property  for  the  purposes  above  mentioned  and  the 
improvement  of  the  sanitary  conditions  of  the  said  city 
of  Washington,  and  the  said  commissioners  shall  pro- 
vide such  supervision,  control,  and  inspection  of  said 
property  as  to  make  and  continuously  maintain  it  in  a 
sanitary  and  healthful  condition,  free  as  far  as  possible 
from  immorality  and  crime. 

That  there  is  hereby  appropriated,  of  the  moneys  in 
the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  the  sum  of 
$10,000,000,  or  so  much  thereof  as  may  be  necessary  to 
carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  this  Act. 

The  bill  met  the  common  fate  of  all  efforts  made  to 
rid  the  country  of  the  deadly  slums.  Congress  was 
not  awake  to  the  horrible  conditions  that  prevail,  and 
could  not  be  induced  to  stop  and  listen.  It  was  the 
old  story  of  indifference  to  the  sufferings  of  others, — 
especially  of  the  poor  and  unfortunate, — and  blindness 
to  the  common  good.  The  bill  was  never  reported  out 
of  the  Committee  on  the  District  of  Columbia,  to 
which  it  was  referred. 

Still  another  effort  to  secure  action  on  the  question 
was  made  by  offering  this  proposition  to  eliminate  the 
slums,  as  an  amendment  to  what  was  called  the  Good 
Roads  Bill,  which  provided  for  an  appropriation  of 
eighty-five  millions  of  dollars  of  Government  money 
to  improve  the  roads  within  the  States,  for  which  pur- 
pose no  money  of  the  National  Government  could 
legally  be  expended.  The  eighty-five  millions  were 
voted,  in  violation  of  the  Constitution,  but  the  pro- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  85 

posal  to  appropriate  ten  millions  to  rid  the  National 
Capital  of  the  slums  and  make  it  clean  and  decent,  and 
reduce  materially  the  disease,  immorality,  and  crime 
that  grow  out  of  this  condition,  was  voted  down. 

In  speaking  in  support  of  the  amendment  in  the 
Senate,  the  author  said,  among  other  things: 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  slum  conditions  such  as  we  have  in 
Washington  have  presented  one  of  the  greatest  problems 
that  has  to  be  dealt  with  in  city  life.  Whether  the 
Government  in  this  instance  should  take  hold  of  a  matter 
of  this  kind  and  furnish  the  relief  that  is  so  much  needed 
is  a  question  about  which  people  will  greatly  differ.  It 
has  been  handled  that  way  by  other  countries  and 
handled  successfully.  We  have  endeavored  here  in 
Washington  to  deal  with  it  in  an  entirely  different  and 
in  an  ineffective  and  inefficient  way. 

I  suppose  there  are  very  few  Members  of  this  body 
who  have  any  realization  of  what  the  actual  conditions 
are  right  here  in  the  Capital  of  the  Nation,  where  they 
spend  most  of  each  year.  While  I  was  investigating  the 
other  matters  to  which  I  have  referred,  I  visited  a  num- 
ber of  these  so-called  courts,  better  named  slums.  I 
spent  most  of  the  day  in  going  about  and  witnessing  the 
conditions,  and  I  went  home  heartsick  at  what  I  saw 
that  day. 

I  do  not  know,  Mr.  President,  how  much  attention 
Senators  have  given  to  this  subject.  It  seems  to  me  to 
be  an  exceedingly  important  one.  It  affects  not  only 
the  poor  people  who  are  compelled  to  live  in  these  places, 
but  it  affects  the  whole  city  of  Washington;  yes,  it  af- 
fects the  good  name  and  credit  of  the  whole  Nation, 


86  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN, 

that  such  conditions  as  I  have  witnessed  here  should 
exist  for  a  day  in  the  Capital  of  the  Nation. 

The  District  of  Columbia  is  under  the  absolute  con- 
trol and  jurisdiction  of  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  It  may  deal  directly  with  this  question.  There 
is  no  reason  why  it  should  not  take  hold  of  it  in  an 
effective  way  and  rid  the  District  of  Columbia  of  the 
conditions  that  exist. 

It  is  not  a  question  of  the  want  of  money.  It  is  not 
going  to  be  a  very  expensive  process.  It  is  going  to  be  an 
economical  one  because  it  will  save  us  much  of  the  ex- 
pense in  the  prosecution  and  care  for  criminals  and  the 
insane,  and  will  relieve  the  city  of  much  of  the  disease 
that  now  exists  coming  out  of  these  cesspools  of  vice  and 
crime. 

That  we  ought  not  to  hesitate  about  the  expenditure 
of  the  small  amount  of  money  that  is  called  for  by  this 
amendment  let  me  call  your  attention  in  a  very  brief 
way  to  some  of  the  expenditures  that  we  are  proposing 
to  make  and  some  that  we  have  already  made,  not  for  the 
benefit  of  the  District  of  Columbia  but  for  the  outside. 
Take,  for  example,  the  bill  providing  for  a  vocational 
school,  a  very  excellent  thing  to  be  brought  about  if  it 
can  be  done  properly  by  the  Government.  We  propose 
to  expend  $14,250,000  at  the  beginning  and  $3,000,000 
a  year  thereafter  perpetually  for  that  purpose. 

For  the  Mississippi  floods,  by  a  bill  that  has  already 
passed  the  House  of  Representatives,  to  expend  $45,- 
000,000. 

We  are  proposing  to  expend  in  two  or  three  of  the 
States  $4,000,000  for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  citrus 
fruit  growers  of  those  States  from  the  effect  of  the 
disease  of  the  tree. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  87 

We  have  just  passed  a  bill  through  both  Houses  of 
Congress  appropriating  $1,000,000  for  the  purpose  of 
constructing  a  bridge  across  the  Potomac.  We  are  pro- 
posing to  build  what  is  called  a  memorial  bridge  across 
the  Potomac  to  cost  something  like  $4,000,000,  and  that 
bridge  will  undoubtedly  be  very  shortly  built. 

The  Public  Health  Service  is  making  surveys  as  they 
call  it,  of  the  counties  in  the  State  at  an  expense  of 
$6,000  a  county.  They  have  already  made  the  survey 
of  9  of  them,  I  believe,  and  expect  at  least  to  expend 
money  enough  to  make  the  survey  of  40  counties  in 
different  parts  of  the  States,  making  up  a  cost  of  $2,400,- 
ooo  for  that  purpose. 

Mr.  President,  we  have  spent  for  this  so-called  Capitol 
Park  to  buy  those  lands  between  the  Capitol  and  the 
Union  Station  and  for  the  removal  of  those  buildings 
more  than  $4,300,000. 

It  does  seem  to  me  that  we  might  spend  the  small 
sum  this  amendment  calls  for — only  $600,000  of  ex- 
penditure— for  the  purpose  of  relieving  the  city  from  the 
conditions  that  I  have  mentioned.  .  .  . 

Now,  sir,  I  have  said  all  that  I  am  going  to  say  about 
this  statement.  I  have  very  much  at  heart  the  effort  to 
take  hold  in  an  effective  way  of  these  conditions  and 
eradicate  them  from  this  city,  the  Capital  of  the  Na- 
tion. We  can  do  it  if  we  will. 

I  am  only  asking  in  this  amendment  that  the  small 
sum  of  $600,000  shall  be  devoted  to  that  purpose.  You 
may  take  it  as  an  experiment  if  you  like;  you  may  say 
that  we  will  try  what  we  can  do.  In  this  instance,  if  we 
are  successful  we  will  extend  it  to  other  parts  of  the 
city,  and  eventually  rid  this  city  of  that  condition  so 
horrible  in  its  effects. 


88  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

The  people  of  this  Republic  who  believe  in  right  liv- 
ing, humanity,  morality  and  the  preservation  of  the 
public  health  should  not  rest  until  their  representatives 
in  Congress  have  corrected  the  conditions  here  ad- 
verted to,  and  made  their  Capital  as  wholesome  in 
all  its  parts  as  it  is  magnificent  and  beautiful  in  its 
more  favored  places, — the  dwellings  of  the  rich.  It 
is  vital  to  any  and  every  movement  for  the  betterment 
of  this  class  of  our  people  wherever  found.  It  cannot 
be  expected  that  good,  self-respecting,  and  respectable 
citizens  can  come  out  of  the  slums.  The  influence  and 
effect  of  such  surroundings  is  to  degrade,  to  humiliate, 
to  inoculate  with  the  virus  of  evil,  immorality,  and 
crime.  In  some  rare  cases  the  home,  however  bad  it 
may  be,  is  kept  clean  in  the  struggle  of  some  un- 
fortunate, brought  up  under  better  conditions  and  in 
a  fairer  environment,  to  make  home  respectable  and 
attractive. 

Poverty  is  not  in  and  of  itself  degrading;  but  it 
does,  in  a  way,  lead  to  that  result  by  denying  to  its 
victims  the  means  and  opportunity  to  make  life  and 
home  respectable.  The  effort  ;sometimes  made  in 
the  slums  and  in  the  homes  of  the  very  poor  to  look 
and  seem  homelike,  comfortable,  and  respectable  is 
pathetic  in  the  extreme,  and  excites  in  one's  mind  the 
liveliest  sympathy.  'To  see  in  these  tawdry  places  of 
abode  scarcely  worthy  of  the  name  of  homes,  evi- 
dence of  efforts  to  enliven  them  with  flowers, — wither- 
ing and  fading  like  the  human  inhabitants  of  these  foul 
places, — and  with  cheap  prints  and  other  efforts  at 
embellishments  pleasing  to  the  eye,  touches  the  heart 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  89 

and  brings  the  blush  of  shame  to  the  cheek  of  as 
American  citizen  when  he  looks  upon  these  things  and 
thinks  how  easily  his  great  Government  and  the 
municipal  authorities  throughout  the  States  could  pro- 
vide these  unfortunate  people,  stagnating  in  these 
places,  with  comfortable  sanitary  homes. 

No  effort  to  make  clean  and  wholesome  the  broken- 
down,  decayed,  and  filthy  places  in  which  the  slum- 
dwellers  now  live  will  suffice.  They  must  be  com- 
pletely destroyed;  other  buildings  must  be  supplied. 
Any  other  course  of  dealing  with  this  vital  problem  is 
merely  palliative  and  temporary  in  character.  It  will 
merely  nurse  the  evil  and,  to  some  extent,  lessen  the 
needs,  sufferings,  and  privations  of  the  victims  of  this 
kind  of  living;  but  the  evil  in  all  its  hideousness  will 
remain  to  be  dealt  with  inefficiently  again  and  again. 
For  the  credit  of  our  country  and  the  good  of  hu- 
manity in  general,  as  well  for  that  of  the  individuals 
immediately  concerned,  an  end  should  be  brought  to 
this  great  evil,  and  that  without  delay. 

It  is  not  alone  the  lack  of  suitable  buildings  in  which 
to  live  that  makes  the  problem  we  are  now  considering. 
The  number  of  people  that  are  housed  in  them  enters 
largely  into  the  difficulty  of  the  situation.  The  con- 
gestion, the  overcrowding  of  the  houses  and  rooms, 
adds  to  the  misery  and  degradation  of  their  inhabitants, 
and  increases  the  danger  of  disease.  In  the  con- 
gested portions  of  the  larger  cities  this  has  always 
presented  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems  of  all  in 
the  matter  of  housing  the  poor  and  the  ill-paid  wage- 
earners.  The  tenement-houses,  the  pest  of  the  cities, 


90  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

are  crowded  with  men,  women,  and  children,  many 
of  them  occupying  the  same  room  used  as  living-room, 
bedroom,  and  kitchen,  sleeping  on  the  floor, — often 
without  undressing  and  without  beds  or  bedclothing. 
There  are  not  a  few  of  these  children  who  have  never 
known  what  it  is  to  sleep  on  a  bed  or  be  warmed  by 
the  bed-clothing  that  contribute  to  the  comfort  and 
health  of  the  more  fortunate.  Many  of  these  tenement 
houses  are  what  are  known  as  "rear,"  or  "backyard 
tenements."  To  this,  in  New  York  and  perhaps  in 
other  cities,  was  added  the  "cellar  population." 

The  United  States  Government  has  not  been  un- 
mindful of  the  misery  and  the  perils  of  these  condi- 
tions. In  1907  a  Joint  Immigration  Commission  of 
the  two  Houses  of  Congress  was  appointed  to  investi- 
gate and  report  conditions  growing  out  of  foreign  im- 
migration into  this  country,  and  later,  in  1912,  an  In- 
dustrial Commission  was  appointed  to  investigate  and 
make  report  of  industrial  conditions.  Both  of  these 
Commissions  made  extensive  investigations  into  pre- 
vailing conditions.  They  present  a  sad  condition  for 
the  contemplation  of  the  American  people. 

Similar  investigations  and  reports  have  been  made 
by  State  Commissions  and  local  municipal  authorities. 
They  all  tell  very  much  the  same  melancholy  story. 
The  two  Federal  Commissions  dealt  mainly  with  the 
economic  phases  of  the  question,  but  their  hearings 
and  reports  disclose,  with  startling  clearness,  the  moral 
and  social  results  of  the  manner  of  living  in  the  places 
inhabited  by  the  poorer  classes  that  should  arouse  the 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  91 

public  conscience  of  the  country  and  force  immediate 
and  drastic  measures  to  correct  the  evil. 

These  unfortunate  conditions  are  not  of  recent 
origin  or  growth.  They  have  existed  in  some  of  the 
cities  at  least  for  many  years.  In  a  report  of  the 
"Sanitary  Conditions  of  the  Laboring  Population  in 
New  York  in  1845,"  as  quoted  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  Industrial  commission  above  mentioned,  this  pic- 
ture of  the  dwellers  in  cellars  is  drawn : 

The  most  offensive  of  all  places  of  residence  are  the 
cellars.  It  is  almost  impossible,  when  contemplating 
the  circumstances  and  conditions  of  the  poor  beings 
who  inhabit  these  holes,  to  maintain  the  proper  degree 
of  calmness  requisite  for  a  thorough  inspection  of  their 
miseries  and  sound  judgment  respecting  them.  You 
must  descend  to  them;  you  must  feel  the  blast  of  foul 
air,  as  it  meets  your  face  on  opening  the  door ;  you  must 
grope  in  the  dark  or  hesitate  until  your  eye  becomes  ac- 
customed to  the  gloomy  place,  to  enable  you  to  find  your 
way  through  the  entry  over  the  broken  floor,  the  boards 
of  which  are  protected  from  your  tread  by  a  half  inch 
of  hard  dirt;  you  must  inhale  the  suffocating  vapor  of 
the  heated  rooms ;  and  in  the  dark,  dim  recesses  endeavor 
to  find  the  inmates  by  the  sound  of  their  voices,  or 
chance  to  see  their  figures  moving  between  you  and  the 
flickering  light  of  a  window,  coated  with  dirt  and  fes- 
tooned with  cobwebs — or,  if  in  search  of  an  invalid,  take 
care  that  you  do  not  fall  full  length  upon  the  bed  with 
her,  by  stumbling  against  the  rags  and  straw  ^dignified 
by  that  name,  lying  upon  the  floor,  under  the  window,  if 
window  there  is. 


92  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

And  in  an  official  report,  made  by  a  city  physician, 
was  found  this  description  of  a  typical  front  build- 
ing: 

The  front  building,  a  small  two-story  frame  house,  was 
partly  occupied  by  the  proprietor  or  lessee  of  the  build- 
ing as  a  liquor  store  and  partly  sublet  to  several  Irish 
families.  A  covered  alleyway  led  to  the  rear  of  the 
building.  This  was  a  double  frame  house  of  three 
stories  in  height.  It  stood  in  the  center  of  the  yard, 
ranged  next  the  fence,  where  a  number  of  pigsties  and 
stables  had  surrounded  the  yard  on  three  sides.  From 
the  quantity  of  filth,  liquid  and  otherwise,  thus  caused, 
the  ground,  I  suppose,  had  been  rendered  almost  im- 
passable, and  to  remedy  this,  the  yard  had  been  com- 
pletely boarded  over  so  that  the  earth  could  nowhere  be 
seen.  These  boards  were  partially  decayed,  and  by  a 
little  pressure  even  in  dry  weather,  a  thick,  greenish 
fluid  could  be  forced  up  through  the  crevices. 

Then,  we  have  the  following  descriptions  of  condi- 
tions prevailing  twenty  years  later: 

The  Thirteenth  Ward  was  densely  crowded  with 
working  classes,  the  majority  of  whom  were  Irish ;  Ger- 
man ranked  next,  and  American  last.  .  .  .  The  ward 
showed  a  high  rate  of  sickness  and  mortality,  owing  to 
the  over-crowded  and  ill-ventilated  dwellings  and  to  the 
ignorant  and  careless  habits  of  the  people  them- 
selves. .  .  .  From  Fortieth  to  Fiftieth  Street  the  foreign 
population  was  mainly  Irish  or  of  Irish  descent,  packed 
in  filthy  tenements  and  of  the  most  unclean  and  de- 
graded habits.  .  .  .  The  tenement  houses  in  which  most 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  93 

of  the  foreign  population  found  their  homes  were  cer- 
tainly little  calculated  to  develop  high  social  and  moral 
types,  and  indeed  brought  to  bear  influences  working  di- 
rectly the  other  way. 

***** 

The  attic  rooms  are  used  to  deposit  the  filthy  rags  and 
bones  as  they  are  taken  from  the  gutters  and  slaughter 
houses.  The  yards  are  filled  with  dirty  rags  hung  up  to 
dry,  sending  forth  their  stench  to  all  the  neighbor- 
hood. .  .  .  The  tenants  are  all  Germans.  .  .  .  They  are 
exceedingly  filthy  in  person  and  their  bedclothes  are  as 
dirty  as  the  floors  they  walk  on.  Their  food  is  of  the 
poorest  quality,  and  their  feet  and  hands,  doubtless  their 
whole  bodies  are  suffering  from  what  they  call  rheuma- 
tism, but  which  in  reality  is  a  prostrate  nervous  system, 
the  result  of  foul  air  and  inadequate  supply  of  nutritious 
food.  .  .  .  Not  one  decent  sleeping  apartment  can  be 
found  on  the  entire  premises  and  not  one  stove  properly 
arranged.  The  carbonic-acid  gas,  in  conjunction  with 
the  other  emanations  from  bones,  rags,  and  human  filth, 
defies  description.  The  rooms  are  6  by  10  feet;  bed- 
rooms 5  by  6  feet.  The  inhabitants  lead  a  miserable 
existence,  and  their  children  wilt  and  die  in  their  in- 
fancy. 

***** 

In  a  majority  of  rear  tenements  .  .  .  the  apartments 
are  dirty,  dark  and  often  reeking  with  filth,  the  walls 
wholly  innocent  of  whitewash,  and  the  atmosphere  im- 
pregnated with  the  disagreeable  odor  so  peculiar  to  tenant 
houses.  In  some  the  sun  never  shines,  and  the  apartments 
are  so  dark  that  unless  seated  near  the  window  it  is  im- 
possible to  read  ordinary  type ;  and  yet  the  inspector  often 
hears  the  hackneyed  expression,  "We  have  no  sickness, 


94  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

thank  God,"  uttered  by  those  whose  sunken  eyes,  pale 
cheeks,  and  colorless  lips  speak  more  eloquently  than 
words  of  the  anaemic  condition  resulting  from  the  absence 
of  pure,  fresh  air,  and  the  general  light  of  the  sun.  .  .  . 
The  tenants  seem  to  wholly  disregard  personal  cleanli- 
ness, if  not  the  very  first  principles  of  decency,  their  gen- 
eral appearance  and  actions  corresponding  with  their 
wretched  abodes.  This  indifference  to  personal  and  domi- 
ciliary cleanliness  is  doubtless  acquired  from  a  long 
familiarity  with  the  loathsome  surroundings,  wholly  at 
variance  with  all  moral  or  social  improvements,  as  well 
as  the  first  principles  of  hygienic  science. 

Fortunately,  conditions  in  this  and  other  cities  have 
been,  in  some  measure,  improved  by  modern  methods 
of  drainage  and  other  means,  but  they  are  still  de- 
plorable enough.  While  hordes  of  poor  people  are 
allowed  to  live  in  such  dwelling-places  as  have  been 
described,  and  the  congestion  and  overcrowding  of  the 
tenements,  cellars,  and  slum  districts  continue,  this 
will  remain  one  of  the  greatest  problems  with  which 
civilized  communities  must  deal.  To  see  and  solve  it, 
it  is  absolutely  necessary  to  supply  better  homes  for 
these  unfortunates,  prevent  congestion,  and  compel 
sanitary  housing  and  living.  There  is  no  means  of 
escape  from  this  drastic  course  of  treatment  of  the 
disease,  if  anything  like  satisfactory  results  are  to  be 
attained. 

Much  of  the  congestion  results  from  the  desire  of 
the  wage-earners  to  live  near  their  place  of  labor.  The 
manufacturing  sections  of  a  city,  to  begin  with,  are 
objectionable  dwelling-places.  Many  of  the  houses  in 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  95 

which  these  people  live  are  old  and  dilapidated  resi- 
dences of  people  who  have  been  fortunate  enough  to 
move  on  to  more  desirable  locations.  Instead  of  a 
family  residence,  for  which  they  were  built  and  used, 
they  become  the  dwelling-places  of  many  families, 
each  family  living  in  a  single  room.  To  these  are 
added  the  unsanitary  tenements,  likewise  overcrowded. 
The  manner  of  living  in  these  places  corresponds  with 
the  buildings  in  which  the  people  live,  and  the  whole 
makes  up  a  condition  of  poverty,  want,  immorality, 
and  vice  that  should  not  be  allowed  to  exist  in  any 
city  or  community. 

Sometimes  the  great  corporations  and  larger  em- 
ployers of  labor  furnished  homes  for  their  employees, 
known  usually  as  "company  houses."  Whether  right 
conditions  prevail  under  these  circumstances  depends 
on  the  generosity  and  good  business  sense  of  the  em- 
ployer. Some  of  the  "company  houses"  are  an  im- 
provement upon  the  places  the  wage-earners  are  able 
to  rent  from  others. 

The  rents  charged  for  the  miserable  hovels  rented  to 
people  of  this  class  are  usually  exorbitantly  high.  Un- 
principled and  exacting  landlords  prey  upon  them,  and 
the  victims  are  helpless  to  protect  themselves  from  the 
rapacity  of  these  real  property  sharks.  The  public 
authorities  can,  if  they  will,  deal  much  more  effectively 
with  the  corporations  who  house  their  employees  than 
they  can  with  private  and  individual  landlords;  but 
public  control  of  the  big  corporations  cannot  always  be 
depended  upon.  The  control  is  too  apt  to  be  the  other 
way  about. 


96  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

Some  of  the  corporations  are  wise  enough  to  see 
that  the  proper  housing  and  comfort  of  their  employees 
is  a  matter  of  economy.  It  makes  for  efficiency  and 
contentment  on  the  part  of  the  wage-earners,  is  of 
great  economic  value,  which  should  insure  better  treat- 
ment of  them  by  their  employers  as  a  pure  matter  of 
business  economy  and  expediency. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PATERNALISM  I    SPECIAL    CLASS    LEGISLATION 

ONE  of  the  dangers  of  making  laws  for  the  benefit 
of  particular  classes  of  people,  on  the  theory  that  they 
need  government  aid,  is  that  we  are  building  up  a 
paternal  government;  another,  that  by  such  legisla- 
tion we  may  create  a  class  of  dependents,  paupers,  and 
mendicants,  who  may  abandon  all  efforts  in  their  own 
behalf  and  become  permanent  burdens  on  the  public. 
This  should  be  avoided  just  so  far  as  possible.  It 
should  be  the  object  of  all  legislation  of  this  kind  to 
make  men,  women,  and  children  self-supporting,  self- 
respecting,  and  independent. 

There  has  been  much  objectionable  class  legislation 
in  this  country.  It  has  served  to  widen  the  breach  be- 
tween Capital  and  Labor,  to  instil  into  the  minds  of  the 
laboring  classes  the  false  idea  that  they  are  the  objects 
of  special  favor  by  the  Government,  and  into  the 
minds  of  the  poorer  class  that  they  will  be  taken  care 
of  by  the  Government,  or  by  the  state,  county,  or  city, 
whether  they  work  or  not.  This  is  a  condition  and 
tendency  greatly  to  be  deplored. 

We  want  no  legislation,  paternalistic  in  its  character, 
the  tendency  of  which  is  to  bring  about  such  results. 
This  sort  of  legislation  is  the  inevitable  outgrowth  of 

971 


98  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

our  vicious  political  condition  and  tendencies.  What 
seems  to  be  a  benevolent  effort  to  aid  by  legislation  a 
class  of  citizens  who  appear  to  need  protection  is 
often,  it  may  fairly  be  said  generally,  a  selfish  political 
scheme  to  get  votes.  This  is  particularly  true  respect- 
ing so-called  "labor  legislation"  in  behalf  of  organized 
labor,  and  laws  in  aid  of  the  farmers.  The  books  are 
full  of  ill-advised  legislation  of  this  kind  that  has  been 
detrimental,  not  helpful,  either  to  organized  labor  or 
the  farmers.  Such  laws  have  gone  far  to  establish  in 
the  minds  of  these  classes  of  citizens  the  fact  that 
they  are  special  favorites  and  will  be  taken  care  of  by 
special  legislation  in  their  behalf,  and,  as  a  result,  they 
are  constantly  appealing  to  legislative  bodies  all  over 
the  country  for  such  legislation;  and  their  appeals  are 
responded  to,  in  the  main,  for  political  reasons. 

This  special  governmental  aid  to  the  laboring  classes 
is  demoralizing  in  the  extreme  to  them,  and  is  of  very 
little  benefit.  There  should  be  no  favorite  classes  in 
this  Republic.  All  men  should  stand  on  an  exact 
equality  before  the  law.  The  rights  of  all  men  should 
be  jealously  protected,  without  regard  to  their  calling 
or  station  in  life.  Before  the  law  there  are  no  classes, 
but  all  men  are  created  equal.  It  is  believed  that  the 
special  class  legislation  that  has  been  enacted  has  done 
more  than  almost  any  other  one  thing  to  divide  our 
people  into  classes  and  create  and  accentuate  class  dis- 
tinctions that  should  never  have  been  thought  of.  No 
doubt  this  has  been  brought  about,  in  great  measure, 
by  the  increased  power  of  wealth  and  the  oppressive 
use  that  is  made  of  it. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  99 

Aside  from  the  mere  political  phase  of  it,  strong  and 
deserved  sympathy  has  been  aroused  for  the  wage- 
earners,  especially  those  engaged  in  cheap  labor,  by  the 
oppression  of  the  capitalistic  or  employer  classes.  But 
this  is  a  condition  that,  with  very  rare  exceptions,  can- 
not be  helped  by  the  enactment  of  laws  for  the  protec- 
tion of  labor. 

In  speaking  about  the  effect  of  anti-trust  laws,  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  the  author  had  this  to  say : 

The  fear  of  the  law  and  the  punishment  which  may 
result  from  it  may,  in  individual  instances,  prevent  the 
more  timid  or  the  more  law-abiding  from  entering  into 
unlawful  and  injurious  combinations,  just  as  individ- 
uals may  by  the  same  influence  be  prevented  from  com- 
mitting murder  or  other  crimes.  But  men  can  not  be 
made  honest  or  unselfish  by  law.  Something  greater 
and  higher  than  this  is  necessary  to  prevent  men  from 
wronging  their  fellow  men.  In  the  effort  to  amass  wealth 
they  forget  the  rights  of  others  and  trample  them 
under  foot.  They  exact  long  hours  of  labor  from  their 
underpaid  and  underfed  employees  and  the  highest  prices 
from  their  customers.  Immense  fortunes  are  amassed 
by  the  most  cruel  and  inhuman  injustice  to  thousands 
and  thousands  who  labor  for  the  simple  necessaries  of 
life.  They  begin  wrong  in  this  respect  and  continue  in 
that  way  to  the  end.  Their  children  are  educated  to  be 
selfish.  The  one  thing  uppermost  in  mind  in  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  is  to  enable  them  to  succeed  materially 
and  to  make  and  accumulate  money.  The  good  which 
they  might  do  with  their  education  to  their  kind  is  in 
most  cases  unthought  of.  Their  success  in  future  life 


ioo  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

is  judged  by  the  money  they  make  and  save  and  not  by 
the  good  they  have  done  their  fellow-men. 

It  seems  to  be  human  nature  to  seek  and  strive  for  the 
acquisition  of  more  of  this  world's  goods.  Where  it 
comes  from  or  who  may  be  injured  or  deprived  of  his 
rights  by  its  getting  is  with  a  good  many  people  a  matter 
of  no  consequence.  From  the  cradle  to  the  grave  man  is 
taught,  and  practices,  this  rule  of  selfishness  which  has 
brought  sorrow  to  thousands  and  thousands  of  people. 
The  accumulation  of  the  millions  of  dollars  now  resting 
in  the  hands  of  a  comparatively  few  people  in  this  coun- 
try has,  in  the  main,  been  accomplished  through  the  toil 
of  the  many  underpaid  employees  who  are  still  struggling 
on  for  a  mere  existence. 

***** 

The  effective  way  to  overcome  this  evil  is  to  bring 
these  classes  nearer  to  an  equality.  This  can  be  done 
only  by  elevating  the  station  of  the  wage  earners  and 
by  curbing  the  power  of  the  employer  class.  No  better 
way  occurs  to  my  mind  to  accomplish  this  result,  so  far 
as  the  making  of  laws  is  concerned,  than  regulation  of 
prices,  wages,  and  hours  of  labor.  There  is  something 
wrong  in  the  economy  of  things  when  the  employer  can 
live  in  luxury  and  enjoy  unlimited  wealth,  while  the  coun- 
try is  speculating  upon  the  question  as  to  how  low  a  wage 
is  sufficient  to  maintain  the  wage  earner  with  the  neces- 
saries of  life.  Acknowledging  to  the  fullest  extent  the 
power,  capacity  and  ability  of  one  man  to  earn  and  save 
money  to  a  greater  extent  than  another,  this  does  not 
account  for  the  differences  in  station  between  the  em- 
ployer and  the  employee.  Many  of  the  skilled  wage  earn- 
ers who  are  making  a  bare  living  for  themselves  and 
their  families  are  just  as  capable  of  earning  and  amass- 


MAN'S  DUTY*  TO  MAN  ict 

ing  wealth  as  their  employer.  There  is  something  else 
besides  capacity  and  earning  power  which  makes  the 
great  difference  between  the  two.  Sometimes  it  is  op- 
portunity, but  that  alone  can  not  account  for  it.  What 
is  it,  then,  that  makes  this  enormous  difference  between 
the  man  who  rolls  in  exorbitant  and  useless  wealth 
and  the  equally  capable,  honest,  and  efficient  man  who 
toils  day  in  and  day  out  for  a  mere  subsistence  ?  There 
must  be  something  radically  wrong  in  the  laws  and  the 
sentiments  of  a  country  that  will  permit  this  distress- 
ing state  of  inequality  between  men  who  are  equal  with 
each  other  by  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  country. 

But,  Mr.  President,  something  more  than  the  mak- 
ing of  laws  is  necessary  to  wipe  out  the  class  lines  that 
are  dividing  our  people.  We  must  learn  to  know  each 
other  better  and  to  understand,  appreciate,  and  sym- 
pathize with  the  trials,  the  problems,  the  sorrows,  and 
afflictions  of  all  classes,  and,  above  all  things,  to  see  the 
good  that  is  in  all  men,  and  to  strive  to  make  all  men  and 
all  women  understand  and  appreciate  and  to  strive  to 
cultivate  the  good  that  is  within  themselves. 

Unfortunate  as  it  is,  some  legislation  has  become 
absolutely  necessary  to  protect  wage-earners  from  the 
rapacity  and  oppression  of  their  employers.  Such! 
laws  as  are  necessary  to  insure  employees, — especiallyl 
employees  of  great  corporations, — a  living  wage  and. 
sanitary  surroundings  should  be  enacted.  Such  laws 
should  not  be  necessary,  and  would  not  be,  if  employers 
were  reasonably  just  and  fair  in  their  dealings  with 
their  men.  The  trouble  is  that  the  wage-earners,  as 
a  rule,  are  not  allowed  to  participate  in  the  profits. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 


While  they  toil  day  in  and  day  out,  for  long  hours,  and 
often  under  outrageous  conditions,  their  employers 
take  all  the  profits  of  their  labor  and  grow  opulent, 
arbitrary,  and  autocratic. 

It  is  by  such  means  that  plutocracy  is  growing  in 
this  country  and  the  number  of  millionaires  and  vulgar 
rich  are  increasing  by  leaps  and  bounds.  This  should 
be  prevented,  by  law  if  necessary.  No  man  should  be 
allowed  to  grow  rich  off  of  another  man's  labor,  while 
the  laborer  remains  poor  because  he  is  poorly  paid. 
The  man  who  makes  a  business  prosperous  by  his 
labor,  should  share  in  that  prosperity.  If  the  business 
is  not  prosperous  and  can  succeed  only  by  paying 
starvation  wages,  it  should  not  continue. 

The  Government  and  the  States  should  pass  such 
laws  as  will  insure  to  the  wage-earners  fair  treatment 
and  a  fair  and  just  participation  in  the  business  that 
by  their  labor  is  made  to  earn  profits.  No  such  laws 
should  be  necessary  in  a  country  like  ours.  The  failure 
to  treat  wage-earners  justly  and  fairly  is  driving  the 
Government  to  enact  paternalistic  legislation,  which  is 
unfortunate,  for  the  reasons  already  mentioned,  and 
which  will  be  elaborated  further  along.  It  should  be 
said  in  this  connection,  however,  that  the  object  of  all 
legislation  of  this  character  should  be  to  enable  the 
wage-earner  to  maintain  himself  and  enjoy  the  privi- 
leges and  benefits  of  an  independent  citizen  of  a  free 
Republic,  and  not  to  reduce  him  to  the  humiliating 
condition  of  dependence  upon  his  government  or  any 
one  else. 

The  standard  of   citizenship  among  the  laboring 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  103 

classes  should  be  maintained  at  the  highest,  and  their 
rights  and  equality  of  opportunity  should  be  jealously 
protected.  In  no  other  way  can  this  nation  be  pre- 
served, or  democratic  principles  upheld.  In  no  other 
way  can  this  Government  maintain  its  own  self-re- 
spect, or  secure  the  respect  and  loyalty  of  its  citizens. 


CHAPTER  IX 

IMMIGRATION 

ONE  of  the  most  important  obstacles  to  any  effort 
to  rid  society  of  the  slums  and  overcrowded  and  un- 
sanitary portions  of  the  larger  cities  is  the  great  in- 
flux of  foreigners  to  this  country.  They  come  here 
accustomed  to  a  low  standard  of  living  in  the  old 
country  that  unfits  them  for  right  living  here,  and 
very  generally  they  take  up  the  same  mode  of  living  in 
this  country.  Indeed,  in  case  of  immigrants  who  en- 
gage in  cheap  labor, — as  so  many  of  them  do, — it  is 
impossible  for  them  to  live  much  better  here  than  they 
lived  at  home. 

Swarms  of  laborers  of  this  class  have  been  brought 
in  by  the  big  corporations,  under  contract  to  serve  such 
corporations.  They  were,  in  the  beginning,  very  little 
better  than  slaves.  They  did  not  speak  our  language. 
They  knew  practically  nothing  of  our  free  institutions. 
They  were  ignorant  and  wholly  without  knowledge  of 
their  rights  under  our  laws.  They  were  herded  in 
large  bodies  and  placed  at  the  most  menial  and  unre- 
munerative  labor.  If  quarters  were  provided  for  them 
by  their  employers,  they  were  generally  inadequate, 
overcrowded,  and  unsanitary.  These  immigrants  were 
a  very  poor  addition  to  society,  and  their  condition  in 

104 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  105 

this  country  was  but  little,  if  any,  better  than  it  was  in 
their  own.  This  evil  of  "contract  labor"  was  bit- 
terly opposed  by  laborers  here  at  home,  and  was  finally 
prohibited  by  Act  of  Congress.  But,  so  far  as  its  ef- 
fects upon  society  and  the  standards  of  living  and  of 
citizenship  were  concerned,  the  evil  work  had  been 
done,  and  its  mark  has  not  been  removed. 

Added  to  these  contract  laborers,  have  been  ^thou- 
sands  of  immigrants  coming  of  their  own  initiative, 
but  many  of  them  little  better  than  those  brought  over 
with  the  money  of  the  corporations  to  serve  their  in- 
terests. A  very  large  proportion  of  immigrants  of  this 
class  congregate  in  the  crowded  districts  of  the  large 
cities,  especially  in  New  York,  to  live  there  in  poverty, 
often  in  want.  They  bring  up  their  children  in  this 
unwholesome  atmosphere  and  degrading  environment, 
to  become  American  citizens;  many  of  them  being 
criminals  and  a  very  great  proportion  of  them  unde- 
sirables in  many  ways. 

It  must  not  be  understood  from  what  is  being  said 
here  that  the  criminal  element,  the  immoral,  and  the 
undesirable  classes  are  all  foreigners,  nor  that  all  im- 
migrants are  of  this  class.  Far  from  it.  But  the 
foreign  element  adds  its  thousands  to  the  dependent/ 
the  immoral,  and  the  criminal  classes  in  this  country  A 
Their  very  ignorance  of  what  an  American  citizen 
should  be,  of  what  their  own  rights  are,  and  of  the 
duty  they  owe  to  the  country  of  their  adoption  and  to 
the  community  in  which  they  live,  adds  immensely  to 
the  difficulty  of  improving  their  condition  and  elevat- 


io6  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

ing  them  and  their  families  to  a  higher  and  better 
standard  of  living. 

In  this  respect  the  foreigner  differs  materially  from 
the  American-born  citizen.  It  is  far  more  difficult  to 
reach  him  and  make  him  understand  what  his  part  is 
in  the  effort  to  lead  him  out  of  his  unfortunate  sur- 
roundings and  mode  of  living  into  better  things.  This 
difficulty  is  increased  by  the  fact,  already  mentioned, 
that  the  different  foreign  nationalities  flock  together, 
to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  nationalities,  including 
Americans;  continue  to  speak  their  native  tongue,  and 
maintain  practically  a  foreign  city  made  up  of  the 
lower  classes  of  the  country  from  which  they  come. 
Their  very  contentment  with  the  deplorable  lives  they 
are  living  makes  the  problem  of  improving  their  con- 
dition the  more  difficult.  This  brings  into  the  subject 
the  question  of  education  which  will  be  considered 
further  along. 

But  it  may  be  said,  in  this  connection,  that  one  of 
the  first  things  to  be  done,  as  it  affects  this  class  of 
people,  is  to  make  them  dissatisfied  with  their  present 
way  of  living,  and  then  show  them  that  there  is  a 
better  way  of  which  they  are  worthy  and  which  they 
are  able  to  attain.  This  done,  the  way  will  have  been 
made  much  easier.  There  is  very  little  use  in  trying 
to  better  the  condition  of  such  people  by  law,  or  by 
forcible  means,  so  long  as  they  do  not  know  enough 
to  know  that  they  would  be  better  off  and  happier  and 
more  contented  if  a  change  were  made.  You  cannot 
make  people  cleanly  by  law  any  more  than  you  can 
make  men  honest  by  that  means;  but  once  make  them 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  107 

understand  that  the  change  in  their  mode  of  living  is 
sought  in  their  interest  and  for  their  individual  ben- 
efit, and  the  road  to  improved  conditions  is  open. 

Investigations  of  conditions  innumerable  have  been 
made  by  the  national  Government,  by  State  and  munici- 
pal authorities,  and  by  charitable  and  benevolent  in- 
stitutions. The  existing  conditions,  with  all  their 
horrors  and  degrading  influences,  have  been  disclosed 
over  and  over  again,  but  the  general  public  seem  not 
to  be  interested  or  concerned  about  these  conditions, 
so  vital  to  the  welfare  and  best  interests  of  the  country. 
A  comparatively  few  brave,  sympathetic,  and  benevo- 
lent souls,  have  responded  to  the  call  involved  in  these 
disclosures  and  have  labored  and  are  still  laboring  to 
better  the  condition  of  these  unfortunate  people, — a 
condition  that  concerns  not  them  alone  but  all  men. 
They  are  few  in  number,  but  many  of  them  have  shown 
a  devotion  to  humanity  and  good  works  worthy  of  the 
highest  commendation. 

Governmental  investigations  have  been  mainly  along 
economic  lines  and  with  little  regard  to  social  bet- 
terment, which  should  have  first  place  in  all  efforts  to 
improve  existing  conditions.  It  is  not  the  purpose 
here  to  enter  at  all  into  the  economic  questions  involved 
or,  to  any  considerable  extent,  to  dwell  on  the  statistics 
of  which  there  are  many  affecting  the  interests  of 
labor.  The  contention  of  organized  labor  has  been 
that  the  entry  of  cheap  foreign  labor  into  this  country 
has  been  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  American  labor. 
Doubtless  it  has,  in  many  ways,  but  principally  by  de- 
grading labor  and  destroying  in  a  great  measure  its  in- 


io8  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

dependence;  and  by  reducing  to  a  lower  standard  the 
manner  of  living  of  the  laboring  classes.  It  is  with 
this  latter  effect  of  importing  foreign  labor  into  this 
country,  and  not  the  mere  matter  of  wages,  except  in 
so  far  as  the  reduction  of  wages  has  affected  the  living 
and  social  condition  of  the  wage-earners,  that  we  are 
now  dealing. 

The  seriousness  of  this  constant  stream  of  foreign 
laborers  into  the  United  States  may  be  better  under- 
stood and  appreciated  when  we  consider  that,  accord- 
ing to  official  statistics,  more  than  half  the  labor  of 
the  United  States,  in  all  industries,  is  of  foreign  birth, 
the  percentage  being  58  foreign  and  42  native,  and  \ 
that  of  this  42  per  cent.,  one-fifth  is  negro  labor,  so 
that  of  all  American  labor  only  a  very  little  over  one- 
third  is  native  white.  It  may  be  that,  looking  at  it 
from  a  purely  economic  and  industrial  point  of  view, 
this  large  proportion  of  foreign  labor  is  necessary ;  but 
if  it  is,  its  deleterious  effects  on  the  social  conditions 
of  the  country  should  be  vigorously  and  effectively 
guarded  against. 

The  number  of  foreigners  coming  to  this  country 
is  little  understood.  In  a  speech  by  Senator  Dilling- 
ham  of  Vermont,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Immigra- 
tion Commission,  made  in  the  United  States  Senate 
April  I7th,  1912,  this  statement  was  made: 

Since  the  year  1860  we  have  admitted  into  this  country  | 
about  23,000,000  aliens  known  as  immigrants.     It  is  an  ( 
equally  startling  fact  that  in  the  last  twelve  years  we 
have  admitted  about  9,000,000;  and  when  in  the  year 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  109 

1907  we  received  the  largest  number  ever  received  in 
any  one  year  during  our  history,  to  wit,  1,285,000,  the 
country  was  aroused  and  Congress  authorized  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  Commission  to  investigate  the  whole 
subject  of  immigration. 

This  brief  extract  shows  something  of  the  vast 
number  of  foreigners  that  have  been  immigrating  to 
this  country.  Of  course,  many  of  them  were  good 
people,  who  have  made  the  best  of  American  citizens 
and  have  done  their  part  in  building  up  this  great 
country  and  making  it  strong  and  prosperous.  But, 
with  these  that  we  were  fortunate  and  glad  to  receive, 
came  great  numbers  of  unskilled  laborers, — ignorant, 
and  in  many  ways  unreliable.  Their  coming  has  placed 
a  great  burden  -on  the  native  population :  the  duty  of 
caring  for  and  directing  this  mass  of  unreliable  and  ir- 
responsible subjects  of  other  countries.  This  duty 
has  not  been  well  performed.  These  poor  people, 
many  of  them  material  out  of  which  good  citizens 
might  have  been  made,  have  been  exploited  and  used 
for  selfish  purposes,  poorly  housed,  poorly  paid,  and 
their  welfare  generally  neglected. 

The  evil  result  of  this  course  has  not  been  confined 
to  the  immigrants,  the  immediate  sufferers  from  the 
greed  and  avarice  that  kept  them  in  subjection  and 
perpetuated  the  sordid  conditions  here  from  which 
they  had  hoped  and  expected  to  escape  by  coming  to  a 
country  of  boasted  freedom  and  equality.  Its  evil  in- 
fluences extended  to  all  working  people,  and  indirectly 
to  the  whole  citizenship  of  the  country.  The  wages 


no  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

of  the  poor  foreigners,  too  meager  to  afford  them  a 
decent  and  comfortable  living,  was,  to  a  very  great 
extent,  the  standard  of  wages  for  all  working  men  and 
women.  The  native  wage-earner  had  to  accept  this 
standard  of  wages  and  come  down  to  the  mode  of  liv- 
ing that  it  enforced,  or  give  way  entirely  to  his  foreign 
competitor.  The  latter  course  was  usually  taken  and 
in  time  the  greater  portion  of  unskilled  labor  fell  into 
the  hands  of  foreign-born  wage-earners. 

Respecting  the  wages  paid  unskilled  labor  where 
these  people  came  from,  it  is  said,  in  the  Report  of  the 
Immigration  Commission : 

The  purely  economic  condition  of  the  wageworker  is 
generally  very  much  lower  in  Europe  than  in  the  United 
States.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  unskilled-laborer 
class  from  which  so  great  a  proportion  of  the  emigration 
to  the  United  States  is  drawn.  ...  A  large  proportion 
of  the  emigration  from  southern  and  eastern  Europe 
may  be  traced  directly  to  the  inability  of  the  peasantry 
to  gain  an  adequate  livelihood  in  agricultural  pursuits 

either  as  laborers  or  proprietors. 

***** 

It  is  a  common  but  erroneous  belief  that  peasants  and 
artisans  in  the  European  countries  from  which  the  new 
immigrant  comes  can  live  so  very  cheaply  that  the  low 
wages  have  practically  as  great  a  purchasing  power  as 
the  higher  wages  in  the  United  States.  The  low  cost  of 
living  among  the  working  people,  especially  of  southern 
and  eastern  Europe,  is  due  to  a  low  standard  of  living 
rather  than  to  the  cheapness  of  food  and  other  com- 
modities. As  a  matter  of  fact,  meat  and  other  costly 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  in 

articles  of  food,  which  are  considered  as  almost  essential 
to  the  everyday  table  of  the  American  workingman,  can 
not  be  afforded  among  laborers  in  like  occupations  in 
southern  and  eastern  Europe.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
American  standard  of  housing,  clothing,  and  other  things 
which  enter  into  the  cost  of  living. 

In  later  years  there  has  been  a  marked  change  in 
the  character  and  standing  of  immigrants  to  this 
country. 

Referring  again  to  Senator  Dillingham,  in  a  later 
speech  made  in  the  Senate,  December  29,  1914,  he  says : 

The  immigration  of  1860-1882,  known  as  the  old 
immigration,  came  mostly  from  England,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, Wales,  Germany,  France,  Scandinavia,  and  Bel- 
gium. It  went  almost  wholly  to  the  great  Central  West, 
to  take  advantage  of  the  opportunities  afforded  by  the 
homestead  act  which  was  adopted  during  the  Civil  War. 
During  the  period  between  1860  and  1910  the  number  of 
farms  in  this  country  increased  from  2,500,000  to  6,000,- 
ooo,  and  we  are  told  that  the  agricultural  area  thus 
opened  up  is  as  great  as  the  whole  area  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  Germany,  Italy,  Spain,  Norway,  Sweden,  Aus- 
tria, Switzerland,  Portugal,  and  the  Netherlands  all  com- 
bined. 

***** 

Of  the  immigration  of  that  period  75  per  cent,  came 
from  the  countries  I  have  named,  and  it  proceeded  in  the 
sections  I  have  indicated.  I  have  in  my  hand  a  table 
from  which  it  appears  that  between  1850  and  1860,  52 
per  cent,  of  such  immigration  went  to  the  Central  West ; 
from  1860  to  1870,  55 YZ  per  cent,  went  there;  from 


ii2  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

1870  to  1880,  56  per  cent,  went  there,  and  only  27  per 
cent,  went  to  the  Atlantic  States. 

During  the  decade  from  1880  to  1890  the  type  of 
immigration  changed ;  only  46  3/10  per  cent,  went  to  the 
Central  West  while  43  i/io  per  cent,  went  to  the  At- 
lantic States.  From  1890  to  1900  the  change  was  still 
more  marked ;  only  12  3/10  per  cent,  went  to  the  Central 
States,  while  808/10  per  cent,  went  to  the  Atlantic 
States.  This  change  in  the  distribution  of  the  immi- 
grant masses  was  indicative  of  the  change  in  its  char- 
acter, as  well  as  the  change  in  the  industrial  conditions 
of  the  country  which  induced  them  to  come  in  such  large- 
ly increased  numbers.  .  .  . 

To  understand  this  movement  we  have  only  to  re- 
member that  in  1860  the  value  of  our  manufactured 
products  annually  was  only  $2,000,000,000,  but  that  in 
1910  such  products  amounted  to  $20,000,000,000.  Dur- 
ing the  intervening  period  the  products  of  our  mills  not 
only  became  equal  to  those  of  France  or  of  Great  Britain 
or  of  Germany  as  individual  nations,  but  we  passed  them, 
as  Bismarck  had  prophesied  we  would  do,  at  a  gallop. 
To-day  the  products  of  our  mills  are  greater  in  value 
than  the  combined  manufactured  products  of  England, 
Germany,  and  France.  It  is  because  of  the  marvelous 
growth  of  these  industries  in  the  United  States  that  the 
immigration  of  recent  years  has  occurred.  It  represents 
races  entirely  different  in  stock  from  ours  and  conditions 
so  entirely  different  that  we  can  hardly  comprehend 
them.  It  comes  largely  from  Russia,  Austria-Hungary, 
the  Balkan  States,  and  Italy,  especially  south  Italy,  in 
which  nations  conditions  are  below  those  in  western  and 
northern  Europe  and  vastly  below  those  existing  in  the 
United  States. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  113 

Another  unfortunate  feature  of  the  later  immigra- 
tion is  that  so  very  large  a  proportion  of  those  now 
coming  are  males  who  have  come  to  this  country  with- 
out any  intention  of  making  homes  for  themselves. 
Of  this  Senator  Dillingham  says: 

There  are,  however,  some  characteristics  connected 
with  the  immigration  from  eastern  and  southern  Europe 
which  must  not  be  disregarded,  and  I  can  not  do  better, 
perhaps,  than  to  direct  the  Senate's  attention,  specifi- 
cally to  some  of  the  races  and  nationalities  which  con- 
tribute most  largely  to  the  "new  immigration,"  as  it  is 
called.  During  the  period  of  15  years,  1899-1913,  we 
admitted  nearly  8,000,000  immigrants  of  the  following 
races,  named  in  order  according  to  the  relative  im- 
portance of  each  in  the  numbers  admitted:  South  Ital- 
ians, Hebrews,  Polish,  North  Italians,  Slovaks,  Croatians, 
Slovenians,  Hungarians,  Greeks,  Lithuanians,  and  Ruth- 
enians.  Out  of  that  entire  number,  66  per  cent,  are 
Italians,  Hebrews,  and  Polish.  The  significant  feature 
of  this  immigration  is  that  73  per  cent,  of  the  whole  were 
males. 

Have  they  come  here  to  make  homes?  Have  they 
brought  their  families,  as  did  the  immigration  from 
northern  and  western  Europe? 

I  have  before  me  another  table  showing  the  percentage 
of  males  among  the  aliens  coming  in  the  years  1899  to 
1910,  for  the  10  leading  races,  from  which  the  same 
startling  fact  appears.  Of  the  South  Italians,  Hebrews, 
Polish,  Slovaks,  North  Italians,  Hungarians,  Creations, 
Slovenians,  Greeks,  Lithuanians,  and  Ruthenians,  fur- 
nishing a  total  immigration  of  5,989,000,  73  per  cent, 
were  males.  I  will  say  that  of  these  different  nationali- 


H4  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

ties  78  per  cent,  of  the  South  Italians  were  males.  Only 
56  per  cent,  of  the  Hebrews  were  males.  On  the  other 
hand,  of  the  Polish,  69  per  cent,  were  males;  of  the 
Slovaks,  70  per  cent. ;  of  the  North  Italians,  78  per  cent. ; 
of  the  Hungarians,  72  per  cent. ;  and  of  the  other  races 
even  a  larger  percentage. 

This  condition  of  things  presents  a  grave  problem 
that  must,  sooner  or  later,  be  solved,  in  the  public  in- 
terest and  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  or  serious  con- 
sequences must  necessarily  flow  from  it. 

In  discussing  the  question  of  immigration  and  its 
consequences,  in  the  United  States  Senate,  January  4, 
1917,  the  author  summed  up  the  situation  as  he  saw 
it  in  the  following  words : 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  another  of  the  degenerating  tendencies 
downward  is  the  admission  into  this  country  of  mil- 
lions of  ignorant,  criminal,  and  otherwise  undesirable 
subjects  of  foreign  nations.  In  some  sections  of  the 
country  these  foreigners,  many  of  whom  do  not  speak 
our  language,  have  become  a  dangerous  and  dominating 
force.  They  are  admitted  to  citizenship  with  an  alarming 
indifference  to  consequences,  and  their  votes  are  coveted 
by  politicians  and  candidates  for  office.  They  know  and 
care  but  little  about  the  laws  and  institutions  of  the 
country.  Under  the  guidance  and  influence  of  designing 
labor  organization  leaders  they  become  the  backbone  of 
labor  strikes  and  are  the  first  to  resort  to  force  and 
violence  to  make  strikes  successful.  Thus  they  become 
the  instruments  and  the  victims  of  dangerous  labor  agi- 
tators. They  have  already  come  in  such  numbers  as 
to  make  them  a  potent  force  in  politics  and  are  courted 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  115 

accordingly.  This  has  gone  further  than  any  other  con- 
sideration to  prevent  the  enactment  of  such  immigration 
laws  as  will  effectively  exclude  them  from  entry  into  this 
country.  Lawmakers  are  afraid  of  the  naturalized  labor 
vote. 

Mr.  President,  this  foreign  element  that  has  come  into 
the  country  in  swarms  has  become  a  dangerous  and  de- 
generating force  that  has  reduced  the  standard  of  citizen- 
ship and  undermined  that  respect  for  law  and  order  that 
is  so  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  a  republican  form 
of  government.  Violence  and  lawlessness  resorted  to  as 
a  means  of  redress  of  wrongs,  or  alleged  denial  of  rights, 
leads  inevitably  to  more  arbitrary  laws  and  centralization 
of  government  in  the  interest  of  one  class  as  against 
another.  A  resort  to  force  by  the  lower  and  more  ignor- 
ant of  our  citizenry  is  an  incentive  to  the  building  up  of 
an  aristocracy,  an  arbitrary  form  of  government,  and 
ultimately  a  despotism.  This  is  a  feature  of  present-day 
conditions  that  calls  for  most  careful  and  patriotic  con- 
sideration and  a  speedy  remedy.  And  I  maintain  that 
the  only  effective  remedy  is  the  entire  exclusion  of  such 
immigrants,  I  might  say  all  immigrants  of  the  laboring- 
class  at  least,  until  we  have  assimilated  and  elevated  to 
respectable  and  law-abiding  citizens  the  enormous  num- 
ber that  has  already  been  admitted.  The  duty  is  im- 
perative and  should  not  be  neglected  or  delayed. 

This  tendency  toward  degeneracy  is  not  alone  the 
fault  of  the  immigrants.  Native-born  Americans,  in- 
stead of  raising  the  foreign  element  to  what  should  be 
the  American  standard  of  living,  too  often  allow  the 
whole  community  of  which  the  immigrant  has  become  a 
considerable  part  to  sink  to  the  level  of  the  lower  foreign 
standard.  They  do  not  assimilate  but  isolate  the  foreign 


n6  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

element  in  most  of  the  cities  and  towns,  thus  building  up 
foreign  cities  within  what  should  be  wholly  American 
cities  governed  by  American  standards  of  living.  When 
we  add  to  this  the  fact  that  the  foreign  sections  are  as 
a  rule  inadequately  supplied  with  facilities  for  health- 
ful and  sanitary  living,  such  as  a  sufficient  water  supply, 
facilities  for  collection  of  garbage,  sanitary  homes,  and 
other  things  necessary  for  right  standards  of  living,  we 
can  not  ascribe  all  of  the  deplorable  conditions  that  exist 
to  the  immigrant  class.  They  are  too  often  made  the  vic- 
tims of  the  greed  and  avarice  of  the  landowners,  and  the 
indifference  and  false  economy  of  municipal  bodies, 
from  which  the  whole  community  suffers.  Instead  of 
elevating  the  immigrant  to  the  American  standard  of  / 
living,  we  accept  his  own  and  leave  him  to  believe  that 
it  is  our  standard.  Thus  we  make  conditions  worse, 
instead  of  better,  for  all  parties  concerned. 

It  is  the  American  as  well  as  the  unfortunate  immi- 
grant who  needs  to  be  regenerated  and  his  standard  of 
living  elevated.  We  are  being  assimilateji^Jiistead  of  as- 
similating our  foreign  residentsT" 

What  effect  the  great  war  now  raging  in  Europe 
is  going  to  have  on  this  problem  must,  of  necessity,  be 
problematical.  For  the  present  the  war  has  checked 
the  flow  of  immigration ;  but  that  it  will  be  renewed  in 
greater  or  less  volume  after  the  war  is  over  cannot  be 
doubted.  If  our  own  country  had  remained  neutral 
and  kept  out  of  the  war,  it  is  fair  to  assume  that  the 
number  of  immigrants  would  have  increased  when 
peace  came.  But  the  misfortunes  and  privations  that 
must  come  to  our  own  people  and  the  future  effects  of 
the  war  on  this  country  may  change  all  this. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  117 

Let  this  be  as  it  may,  we  now  have,  as  the  result 
of  past  immigration,  a  great  body  of  unassimilable 
foreign  elements  in  this  country  that  is  going  to  tax 
the  wisdom,  the  patriotism,  and  the  generosity  of 
the  American  people,  if  these  immigrants  are  to  be 
made  a  benefit  and  not  a  lasting  detriment  to  the 
country. 


CHAPTER  X 

EDUCATION.    SOCIAL    SETTLEMENTS 

THE  public  schools,  under  the  admirable  systems 
that  prevail  in  most  of  the  States,  are  doing  a  great 
work  in  the  effort  to  lift  foreign-born  and  other  poor 
and  unfortunate  children  out  of  the  misery  of  ignorance 
and  unwholesome  living  in  which  so  many  of  them  are 
found  at  home.  But  these  efforts  have  but  little  ef- 
fect upon  their  social  and  domestic  conditions.  The 
child  who,  unwashed  and  unkempt,  comes  out  of  a 
filthy  and  desolate  home,  to  his  school,  and  goes  back 
to  it  again  when  school  hours  are  over,  is  dreadfully 
handicapped  in  the  race  for  an  education  and  the 
schools,  with  their  army  of  teachers,  sympathetic  and 
eager  to  help  these  unfortunates,  labor  under  most  dis- 
couraging difficulties. 

Many  children  of  this  class, — especially  some  of  the 
foregn-born — are  bright  and  eager  to  learn,  but 
their  home  life  is  the  greatest  obstacle  to  their  ad- 
vancement. Some  grow  out  of  their  environment,  sur- 
mount the  obstacles  that  confront  them, — obstacles  not 
common  to  their  school  associates, — and  make  good 
citizens,  sometimes  great  men.  But  no  child  should 
be  left  to  struggle  alone  against  such  odds.  The 
children  should  be  reached  at  their  homes,  and  the 

118 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  119 

process  of  home  education,  right  thinking,  and  right 
living  carried  into  the  home  as  a  necessary  aid  to  the 
educational  work  in  the  school.  The  parents  of  these 
children  should  be  taught  to  know  that  a  clean  body 
and  a  pure  home  are  necessary  to  a  pure  and  healthy 
mind.  They  should  be  made  to  understand  that  their 
children,  if  they  are  to  compete  successfully  with  other 
children  and  later  meet  successfully  the  trials  and 
tribulations  of  the  world,  must  commence  with  the 
right  home  life. 

So,  the  work  of  education  should  commence  in  the 
homes  and  extend,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the  parents.  It 
is  they  who  need  to  be  helped  to  sanitary  homes  and 
taught  how  to  keep  these  homes  sanitary  and  whole- 
some. Poverty  is  respectable,  if  it  is  clean  and  decent 
poverty.  The  homes  of  the  poor  may  be  kept  as  clean 
and  as  respectable  as  the  homes  of  the  rich.  Unr 
cleanness  and  filth  are  never  respectable  and  are  in- 
excusable in  the  homes  of  the  poor,  if  proper  homes 
are  provided,  as  well  as  in  other  homes.  But  how 
can  a  home  be  made  clean  and  wholesome  in  the  slums, 
the  shacks,  and  overcrowded  tenement-houses  where 
so  many  of  the  poor  people  are  condemned  to  live? 
Here,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  is  the  great  obstacle  to 
right  living,  right  thinking,  right  education.  Such 
homes  destroy,  in  the  minds  of  most  of  the  young  of 
this  class,  all  incentive  to  obtain  an  education  and 
become  something  in  the  world. 

Efforts  have  been  made, — sometimes  by  the  public 
authorities  and  sometimes  by  generous  and  sympa- 
thetic people, — to  reach  and  overcome  this  obstacle,  by 


120  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

entering  the  homes  of  the  poor,  and  in  that  direct  way 
making  the  effort  to  better  the  condition  of  the  children 
at  home  and  to  get  them  out  of  their  homes  into  the 
air  and  sunshine,  and  interest  them  in  desirable  out- 
door sports  and  amusements.  The  social  settlements, 
playgrounds  associations,  and  other  like  organizations 
have  done  much  in  this  way,  and  their  efforts  should 
be  better  appreciated  and  more  highly  commended. 
Not  only  should  their  efforts  be  commended  but  these 
organizations  should  have  the  material  and  generous 
aid  and  assistance  of  people  possessed  of  means  suf- 
ficient to  give  such  aid.  Better  still :  all  such  work  as 
this  should  be  done  by  the  public  authorities  and  ample 
means  provided  for  the  work.  This  is  the  only  way  in 
which  it  can  be  efficiently  and  successfully  done.  The 
home  should  be  considered  as  the  one  place  of  all 
others  where  the  work  should  be  commenced  and  per- 
sistently and  continuously  prosecuted.  No  poor  family 
should  be  neglected.  It  would  be  a  work  of  the 
greatest  economy.  This  method  would  decrease  im- 
morality and  crime,  make  better  and  more  useful  men 
and  women,  lessen  the  number  of  idlers,  drunkards, 
incompetents,  and  dependents,  by  whom  society  is  now 
overburdened,  and  elevate  wonderfully  the  standard 
of  living  and  citizenship. 

The  country  is  doubly  burdened,  and  its  citizenship 
debased  and  degraded  by  two  directly  opposite  classes 
of  citizens:  the  idle  and  dependent  poor  and  the  idle 
and  profligate  rich.  They  are  both  leeches  on  the  body 
politic.  Both  should  be  taught  how  to  live  and  how 
to  make  themselves  respectable  members  of  society, 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  121 

helpful  to  themselves  and  to  their  fellow-men.  There 
are  few  objects  in  life  more  useless  or  more  despicable 
than  the  very  rich  men  and  women  who  live  only  to 
spend  their  unearned  riches  in  profligate  living  and 
sensual  enjoyment  of  useless  and  unprofitable  amuse- 
ments. They  are  not  only  useless  members  of  society, 
giving  nothing,  doing  nothing  for  the  common  good; 
their  lives  are  an  evil  example  that  too  many,  deceived 
by  the  glamor  of  their  ostentatious  way  of  living,  are 
led  to  follow,  to  their  degradation  and  ruin. 

If  the  terrible  war  that  is  upon  us  shall  teach  an 
extravagant  and  wasteful  people  the  lesson  of  economy, 
modest  and  unostentatious  living,  it  will  not  have  been 
in  vain.  As  it  is,  the  rich  have  grown  richer  and  more 
numerous,  and  the  poor  poorer  and  more  helpless. 
The  war  has  drawn  away  from  the  needy  poor,  into 
other  channels,  much  of  the  sympathy  and  help  here- 
tofore extended  to  them.  The  commendable  sympathy 
for  the  soldiers  and  the  worthy  and  patriotic  desire 
to  provide  them  with  all  the  comforts  possible  have 
drawn  attention  away  from  the  needs  of  the  poor  and 
unfortunate.  Charitable  organizations,  hitherto  sup- 
ported by  public  funds  and  the  generosity  of  private 
individuals,  are  suffering  for  the  means  necessary  to 
care  for  the  needy  and  worthy  poor  at  home.  We  are 
contributing  millions  in  aid  of  the  poor  and  unfortunate 
of  foreign  countries  and  leaving  our  own  to  suffer 
the  pangs  of  hunger  and  want. 

But  this  is  a  digression.  The*  efforts  of  the  social 
settlements  do  reach  the  homes  of  the  poor  and  of  the 
foreigners  who  have  not  comprehended  the  way  of 


122  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

living  that  should  prevail  in  a  country  like  this.  In 
this  way  they  have  done  much  good,  and  have  been  a 
valuable  aid  to  the  public  schools;  and  if  by  some 
means  the  people  that  they  have  been  trying  to  help 
could  be  suitably  housed,  their  work,  the  work  of 
these  organizations  would  be  made  much  easier  and 
much  more  effective. 

So,  looking  upon  this  crying  evil  from  any  point  of 
view,  and  treating  it  in  a  broad  and  comprehensive 
way,  we  come  back  again  and  again  to  the  undeniable 
fact  that  the  one  great  need  of  this  unfortunate  class 
of  people  is  fit  places  in  which  to  live.  This  provided, 
other  things  necessary  to  the  uplift  of  this  class  into 
better  conditions  will  follow  as  a  matter  of  course. 
It  is  impossible  to  make  people  respectable  and  self- 
respecting  when  they  live,  as  they  are  compelled  to 
live,  in  unsanitary,  broken-down,  filthy,  and  over- 
crowded buildings  called  "homes." 


CHAPTER  XI 

SELF-HELP 

ONE  of  the  chief  objects  of  better  social  conditions, 
and  help  of  those  who  suffer  from  existing  conditions, 
should  be  to  teach  those  who  are  the  immediate  and 
principal  sufferers  to  help  themselves,  and  encourage 
and  stimulate  them  to  greater  efforts  in  their  own  be- 
half. .They  should  be  made  to  understand  that  they 
must  make  this  effort  if  they  are  to  maintain  their  self- 
respect  and  the  respect  of  their  fellow-men.  De- 
pendence on  others  for  the  things  they  are  able  to  do 
for  themselves  saps  their  independence  and  is,  in  itself, 
degrading.  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  looking  at 
it  from  every  point  of  view,  to  lessen  the  number 
of  dependents  and  incompetents  and  make  them  self- 
supporting.  We  do  not  want  in  this  country  to  build 
up  and  have  to  maintain,  either  by  public  or  private 
charity,  a  great  body  of  dependents  and  beggars,  nor 
do  we  want  to  make  this  a  paternalistic  government 
that  takes  upon  itself  the  burden  of  caring  for  people 
who  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves. 

This  work  of  elevating  thought  along  this  line  and 
stimulating  such  unfortunates  to  greater  endeavor  on 
their  own  part  must,  in  great  part,  be  done  in  the 
homes.  How  far  it  is  being  done,  in  the  schools,  for 

123 


124  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

the  benefit  of  the  coming  generations  is  hard  to  tell. 
Teachers  cannot,  without  extraordinary  efforts,  know 
the  needs  of  individual  cases  nor  the  conditions  at 
home  that  are  destroying,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  ef- 
forts that  are  being  made  in  the  children's  behalf  in 
the  schoolroom.  This  is  exceedingly  important.  In 
some  of  the  cities  the  public  schools  are  so  conducted 
as  to  reach  the  homes  of  the  unfortunates  who  are 
handicapped  by  conditions  there.  Schools  are  estab- 
lished in  the  congested  districts  of  the  poor,  where 
foreign  immigrants  are  crowded  together,  and  teach- 
ers are  expected  to  visit  the  homes  of  such  children 
and  endeavor  to  remove  such  obstacles  to  their  ad- 
vancement and  progress. 

It  is  impossible  to  know  just  how  far  teachers  in 
such  schools  are  going  in  their  work,  in  the  homes  of 
the  poor,  to  supplement  and  make  more  effective  the 
work  done  in  the  school.  This  must  depend  in  great 
measure  upon  the  individual  teacher.  Some  are  tak- 
ing great  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their  pupils  who 
come  from  this  class,  and  are  doing  excellent  work. 
They  find  conditions  in  such  localities  and  in  some 
homes  shockingly  bad.  In  some  this  state  of  affairs 
excites  disgust,  others  sympathy,  a  spirit  of  helpful- 
ness, and  a  sincere  desire  to  ameliorate  conditions. 
These  of  the  latter  class  are,  to  a  limited  extent,  doing 
a  great  work.  But  their  opportunities  for  doing  good 
in  this  way  are  limited  by  inadequate  appropriations 
of  money  to  carry  on  the  work.  They  stand  appalled 
at  the  deplorable  conditions  known  to  but  few  besides 
themselves,  and  are  helpless  to  do  more  than  advise 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  125 

and  encourage  where  money  and  other  substantial 
means  are  necessary  to  remove  these  conditions  that 
militate  so  strongly  against  the  work  they  are  trying 
to  do  for  the  children. 

There  is  one  way  out  of  this  unhappy  and  unneces- 
sary condition  of  things :  The  public  authorities  whose 
'duty  it  is  to  look  after  the  education  of  the  children 
must  be  awakened  to  the  important  fact  that  money 
must  be  provided  with  which  to  remove  the  condi- 
tions and  make  homes  for  such  children  that  will  put 
them  on  a  level  with  the  more  fortunate  ones  and  fit 
their  minds  for  the  reception  of  the  education  that  is 
made  free  to  all  alike.  This  duty  cannot  be  too 
strongly  urged  upon  those  who  have  the  education 
and  welfare  of  the  children  in  their  keeping.  Very 
few  of  them  really  know  what  the  conditions  are, 
and  those  who  do,  as  a  rule,  show  a  shocking  indif- 
ference to  them  and  seem  to  care  but  little  for  what 
is  their  obvious  duty. 


CHAPTER  XII 

FORWARD  TO  THE  LAND 

THE  lamentable  congestion  that  so  generally  pre- 
vails in  the  larger  cities  would  be  immensely  relieved 
if  the  millions  of  people  who  lodge  there  and  remain 
year  after  year,  often  for  a  lifetime,  in  misery  and 
desolation  could  be  in  some  way  induced  to  go  out 
into  the  agricultural  districts  and  make  their  living 
there,  in  the  pure,  unpolluted  air  and  healthful  sun- 
shine. In  this  time  of  war,  when  every  available  foot 
of  land  needs  to  be  cultivated  to  supply  the  necessaries 
of  life,  their  help  in  the  fields  is  more  than  ever 
necessary,  not  only  in  their  own  interest  but  in  the 
interest  of  the  whole  country  and  of  other  nations 
who  are  our  allies  in  the  conflict. 

By  the  demands  and  exigencies  of  war  we  are 
placed  in  a  position  where  we  must  supply  food  not 
only  for  our  own  people  and  our  own  army  but  for 
our  allies  and  their  armies,  or  lose  the  war.  It  is  a 
stupendous  undertaking.  The  length  to  which  we  must 
go  in  this  endeavor  staggers  the  imagination.  It  was 
not  dreamed  of  when  we  entered  the  war.  The  peo- 
ple are  only  beginning  now  to  realize  in  some  degree 
the  extent  of  our  war  obligations.  Meet  these  obli- 
gations we  must,  without  limitation  or  evasion,  let 

126 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  127 

the  sacrifices  and  deprivations  resulting  from  it  be 
what  they  may. 

We  have  in  this  country  to-day  millions  of  acres  of 
tillable  land,  uncultivated  and  going  to  waste,  and  at 
the  same  time  there  are  millions  of  men,  women,  and 
children  living  in  poverty  in  the  slums,  shacks,  and 
overcrowded  tenement-houses  in  the  cities,  and  breath- 
ing the  pestilential,  disease-burdened  air  of  these 
places,  who  might  be  cultivating  these  unused  lands 
to  their  own  immeasurable  benefit  and  in  aid  of  the 
war  and  the  future  prosperity  of  the  country. 

The  fact  that  so  many  of  these  people,  immigrants 
from  foreign  countries,  having  been  farmers  and  farm 
laborers  in  the  countries  from  which  they  came,  are 
peculiarly  fitted  for  work  on  the  farm  and  unfit  for 
the  work  to  be  had  in  the  cities,  makes  the  situation 
the  more  incongruous  and  lamentable. 

The  speech  of  Senator  Dillingham  on  this  subject 
in  the  United  States  Senate  in  December,  1914,  has 
already  been  referred  to  in  another  connection.  Again 
we  gather  from  the  same  source  the  following  pertinent 
facts  relating  to  the  precise  question  now  under  con- 
sideration : 

Another  significant  factor  in  the  problem  lies  in  the 
fact  that  while  this  new  immigration  is  made  up  so 
largely  of  males,  it  consists  almost  wholly  of  common  or 
unskilled  laborers.  In  volume  i,  page  121,  of  the  com- 
mission's report,  a  table  will  be  found  which  shows 
that  common  or  farm  laborers,  or  those  without  occupa- 
tion, received  during  the  12  years  from  1899  to  1910  con- 


128  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

stituted  the  following  proportion  of  the  immigration  by 
races  in  that  period : 

South  Italians,  85.4  per  cent. ;  Hebrews,  32.9  per  cent. ; 
Polish,  93.7  per  cent.;  Slovaks,  95.6  per  cent.;  north 
Italians,  79.6  per  cent;  Hungarians,  91.4  per  cent.; 
Croatians  and  Slovenians,  95  per  cent.;  Greeks,  92.3 
per  cent. ;  Lithuanians,  93.3  per  cent. ;  Ruthenians,  79.5 
per  cent.  Of  the  Bulgarians,  Servians,  and  Monte- 
negrins, 96.7  per  cent,  of  them  belong  to  those  classes; 
of  the  Finnish,  94  per  cent. ;  of  the  Roumanians,  97.3 
per  cent. ;  and  of  the  Portuguese,  93  per  cent.  So  it  ap- 
pears that  the  males  making  up  this  immigration  were 
almost  wholly  common  or  farm  laborers  in  the  countries 
from  whence  they  come.  You  would  naturally  think, 
therefore,  that  they  would  go  to  the  farms  in  this  coun- 
try. But  have  they  done  so?  I  regret  to  say  that  they 
have  not. 

I  was  interested  in  what  the  Senator  from  New  York 
[Mr.  O'Gorman]  said  this  morning  about  the  area  of 
our  land  and  the  opportunity  there  is  for  this  class  of 
immigrants  to  find  places  upon  the  soil;  but  the  fact 
is  that  the  new  immigration  does  not  go  to  the  soil.  It 
proceeds  almost  wholly  and  directly  to  the  cities.  From 
the  year  1880  to  1909,  a  period  of  30  years — and  I  might 
say  that  this  will  be  an  answer  to  an  inquiry  that  was 
made  in  the  debate  this  morning  by  the  Senator  from 
Mississippi  [Mr.  Vardaman] — we  received  from  Aus- 
tria-Hungary, in  round  numbers,  2,850,000  immigrants; 
from  Italy,  2,801,000;  from  Russia,  2,134,000;  in  all, 
7,785,000  immigrants.  That  was  in  the  period  of  30 
years.  Now,  the  census  of  1910  reveals  the  most  re- 
markable fact  that  of  that  entire  number  less  than  I 
per  cent,  were  found  in  that  year  to  be  managers  of 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  129 

farms  in  this  country,  either  as  owners  or  as  tenants.  To 
be  exact,  only  nine-tenths  of  I  per  cent,  of  the  entire  im- 
migration from  those  countries,  covering  a  period  of  30 
years,  was  found  managing  farms  in  this  country,  either 
as  owners  or  as  tenants.  ...  Of  the  Russians  in  this 
country,  87  per  cent,  were  found  to  be  denizens  of  the 
cities,  while  of  those  from  Austria-Hungary  the  propor- 
tion was  75  per  cent. ;  of  those  from  Roumania,  92  per 
cent. ;  of  the  Turks,  83  per  cent.  Of  the  immigration 
during  the  four  years  immediately  preceding  the  census 
of  1910,  78.5  per  cent,  of  the  whole  number  admitted 
proceeded  directly  to  the  cities.  Think  of  that !  Almost 
eight-tenths  of  the  whole  went  directly  to  the  centers  of 
population. 

I  have  already  commented  upon  the  fact  that  a  very 
large  proportion  of  these  adult  men  were  common  or 
farm  laborers  in  the  countries  from  which  they  came. 
Over  70  per  cent.,  probably  nearer  75  per  cent,  of  them, 
came  from  southeastern  Europe,  and  82  per  cent,  of  them 
went  to  New  England,  the  Atlantic,  and  east-north-cen- 
tral States. 

I  wish  you  would  consider  that  statement  for  a  mo- 
ment. New  England,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New 
Jersey,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan 
constitute  about  13  per  cent,  of  the  area  of  continental 
United  States,  and  yet  it  appears  that  over  80  per  cent, 
of  this  entire  immigration  found  its  destination  in  that 
area;  and  that  is  where  they  are  found  to-day — in  the 
large  manufacturing  towns  of  that  large  manufacturing 
section  of  the  United  States. 


The  commission,  in  order  to  investigate  the  condition 
of  aliens  in  American  industries,  sent  out  their  agents 


130  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

and  caused  to  be  examined  37  of  the  leading  industries 
in  the  United  States  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains.  In 
doing  so  they  came  in  contact  with  700,00x3  different  em- 
ployees in  the  different  industries.  They  made  23,000 
family  studies,  apportioning  them  among  the  different 
classes  of  industries,  and  they  went  into  200  industrial 
communities  to  study  conditions  there.  They  found  that 
of  that  700,000  employees  with  whom  they  came  in  con- 
tact 59.9  per  cent. — call  it  60  per  cent. — of  the  whole 
were  born  abroad,  that  15  per  cent,  were  their  children, 
and  that  less  than  20  per  cent,  were  the  sons  or  the 
daughters  of  American  born  parents. 

In  the  iron  and  steel  industry  they  found  57.7  per 
cent.,  foreign  born ;  in  the  slaughtering  and  meat-packing 
industry,  60.7  per  cent. ;  in  wool  and  worsted  manufac- 
turing, 61.9  per  cent. ;  in  the  coal  industry,  61.9  per  cent. ; 
in  the  copper  mining  and  smelting  industry,  65.3  per 
cent. ;  in  the  leather  tanning,  currying,  and  finishing  in- 
dustry, 67  per  cent. ;  in  cotton-goods  manufactures,  68.7 
per  cent. ;  in  clothing  manufactures,  72.2  per  cent. ;  in 
silk-goods  manufactures,  75.1  per  cent,  or  an  average  of 
65.6  per  cent,  of  foreign-born  employees  in  these  in- 
dustries. 

The  information  given  in  this  brief  form  by  Sena- 
tor Dillingham  is  gleaned  from  the  report  of  the  Im- 
migration Commission  heretofore  mentioned,  and  will 
serve  our  present  purpose.  The  importance  of  send- 
ing these  immigrants  forward  to  the  land  has  not  been 
overlooked.  Strenuous  but  not  well-directed  efforts 
have  been  made  to  induce  them  to  abandon  their  pres- 
ent homes  in  the  cities  and  go  to  the  country.  There 
are  difficulties  and  obstacles  that  have  up  to  the  pres- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  131 

ent  time  made  these  well-intentioned  efforts  of  no 
avail, — or  very  little.  Most  of  the  immigrants  come 
with  no  money,  or  with  too  little  for  them  to  acquire 
lands  of  their  own  and  make  themselves  homes.  Wages 
paid  farm  laborers,  and  accommodations  furnished 
them,  have  not  been  made  attractive.  They  are  usu- 
ally treated  as  servants  and  inferior  beings.  They 
have  no  home  on  the  farm,  in  any  proper  sense,  and 
no  home  life.  They  have  no  associates  of  their  own 
race  or  country  and  therefore  the  life  is  to  them  a 
very  lonely  one. 

To  meet  and  overcome  these  obvious  obstacles,  cer- 
tain colonization  schemes  have  been  inaugurated,  with 
a  view  to  bringing  people  of  the  same  nationalities 
together  as  landowners.  The  great  difficulty  in  the 
way  of  carrying  out  these  schemes  is  the  lack  of  funds 
in  the  hands  of  the  people  sought  to  be  reached  and 
benefited  by  such  movements.  The  efforts  at  coloni- 
zation are  made  for  profit  and  they  are,  as  a  rule, 
found  to  be  unprofitable,  principally  for  the  reason 
stated.  This  difficulty  has  been  met  elsewhere,  in 
some  instances,  by  the  advancement  to  the  locator  on 
public  lands  of  enough  money  to  improve  the  land 
and  make  the  initial  payment  on  it;  this  sum  to  be 
repaid  in  easy  installments.  This  is  done  under  State 
aid  and  direction.  But,  at  the  present  time,  it  is  not 
the  public  land  so  much  that  needs  to  be  colonized  as 
land  privately  owned  and  held  in  large  and  unculti- 
vated tracts,  which  should  be  divided  up  into  smaller 
tracts  and  more  intensively  cultivated.  In  California 
an  Act  was  passed  by  the  legislature  in  1915  to 


132  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

Investigate  and  consider  the  question  of  land  colon- 
ization,  and  the  various  -forms  of  land  banks,  coopera- 
tive credit  unions,  and  other  rural  credit  systems  adopted 
or  proposed  in  this  country  or  elsewhere,  with  especial 
view  to  the  needs  of  the  rural  communities  of  this  state. 

Under  this  act  a  commission  was  appointed  to  in- 
vestigate and  report  on  the  existing  conditions;  which 
was  done.  In  this  report,  it  is  said : 

Within  the  last  five  years  questions  of  land  tenure  and 
land  settlement  have  assumed  a  hitherto  unthought  of  im- 
portance in  the  United  States.  The  causes  for  this  are 
the  disappearance  of  free,  fertile  public  land;  the  ris- 
ing prices  of  privately-owned  farm  lands ;  the  increase 
in  tenant  farming  and  a  clearer  recognition  of  its 
dangers ;  and  the  increasing  attractions  of  city  life  which 
threaten  the  social  impairment  of  rural  communities  by 
causing  young  people  to  leave  the  farms. 

Some  of  the  most  enlightened  nations  of  the  world 
have  gone  far  toward  solving  the  problems  created  by 
such  undesirable  conditions  by  the  adoption  of  new  at- 
titudes on  the  part  of  the  government  towards  land 
ownership  and  land  settlement.  In  such  countries  the 
state  has  taken  an  active  part  in  subdivding  large  estates 
and  in  creating  conditions  which  will  enable  farm 
laborers  and  farmers  of  small  capital  to  own  their  homes. 
They  have  adopted  this  policy  because  experience  has 
shown  that  non-resident  ownership  and  tenant  farming 
are  politically  dangerous  and  socially  undesirable;  that 
ignorant  and  nomadic  farm  labor  is  bad;  and  that  the 
balance  between  the  growth  of  city  and  country  can  be 
maintained  only  through  creating  rural  conditions  which 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  133 

will  make  the  farm  as  attractive  as  the  office  or  factory 
for  men  and  women  of  character  and  intelligence. 

And  again,  in  explanation  of  the  present  system  of 
private  holding  of  large  uncultivated  tracts,  it  is  fur- 
ther said: 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  whole  state  that  its  fertile 
lands  should  be  cultivated  and  that  active  colonization 
should  be  promoted.  The  state  now  buys  a  large  part 
of  its  meat  and  many  other  farm  products  abroad.  In- 
creased production  would  lessen  the  cost  of  living  and 
keep  at  home  money  now  sent  to  other  sections  to  pay  for 
food  products.  Moreover,  great  properties,  owned  by 
non-residents,  are  being  cultivated  by  tenants  or  by  no- 
madic and  unsatisfactory  hired  labor.  These  great  prop- 
erties ought  to  be  subdivided  and  cultivated  by  residents. 
From  statistics  furnished  by  C.  L.  Seavey,  tax  commis- 
sioner, it  appears  that  310  landed  proprietors  own  over 
four  million  acfes  of  land  suited  to  intensive  cultivation 
and  capable  of  supporting  a  dense  population.  This 
would  make  100,000  forty-acre  farms.  One  firm  owns 
nearly  one  million  acres ;  one  railroad  owns  500,000  acres. 
In  Kern  County  four  companies  own  over  1,000,000 
acres,  or  more  than  half  the  land  in  private  ownership. 
The  Kern  County  Land  Company  alone  owns  356,000 
acres.  In  Merced  County  Miller  &  Lux  own  245,000 
acres.  The  evils  of  such  ownership  are  every  year  be- 
coming more  apparent.  We  have  at  one  end  of  the 
social  scale  a  few  rich  men  who  as  a  rule  do  not  live  on 
their  estates,  and  at  the  other  end  either  a  body  of 
shifting  farm  laborers  or  a  farm  tenantry  made  up 
largely  of  aliens,  who  take  small  interest  in  the  progress 
of  the  community.  Political  stability,  the  best  results 


134  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

in  agriculture,  and  satisfactory  social  conditions  require 
that  this  inheritance  from  a  Mexican  land  system  and 
former  land  laws  of  the  United  States  be  abolished. 

The  conditions  mentioned  in  this  report  prevail,  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  in  the  far  Western  and  Pacific 
Coast  States.  If  the  country  is  to  have  the  full  bene- 
fit of  these  millions  of  acres  of  fertile  lands,  these 
tracts  must  be  divided  up  into  smaller  holdings  and 
cultivated  by  landowners,  not  by  tenants.  We  have 
the  men  and  women  to  occupy  these  lands,  in  small 
holdings,  able  to  cultivate  them  to  their  full  capacity; 
but  these  men  and  women  have  not  the  money  neces- 
sary to  acquire  title  to  the  property  and  develop  it. 
This  need  will  have  to  be  met,  either  by  the  national 
Government,  the  States,  or  by  private  individuals. 
Either  the  Government  or  the  States  could  do  it,  and 
profit  largely  by  doing  so.  If  it  is  to  be  done  by 
private  individuals,  to  make  it  a  success,  it  must  be 
largely  a  matter  of  charity.  They  who  supply  the 
money  to  such  homeseekers,  to  be  repaid  in  small 
installments,  covering  a  long  period  of  years, — the 
only  way  it  is  believed  that  the  desired  results  can 
be  accomplished, — may  or  may  not  be  made  whole  in 
the  end.  But  whether  they  can  be  or  not,  there  are 
some  benevolent  and  charitable  people,  who  are  de- 
voting large  sums  of  money  to  the  assistance  of  the 
poor  who  are  not  able  to  help  themselves,  who  might 
be  made  to  see  that  there  is  no  field  of  charitable  en- 
deavor where  their  money  could  be  used  to  advantage 
so  general  and  widespread. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  135 

The  investigations  made  by  the  commission  above 
mentioned  have  shown  conclusively  that  the  attempt 
to  colonize  lands  as  a  profit-making  business  has  gen- 
erally resulted  in  entire  or  partial  failure.  The  results 
are  discouraging  and  unsatisfactory.  The  commission 
visited  and  investigated  thirty-two  of  these  colonies 
in  the  State  of  California,  and  interviewed  the  settlers 
and  others,  taking  the  testimony  of  a  large  number 
of  witnesses  supposed  to  have  special  knowledge  on 
the  subject.  The  investigation  proved  that,  in  most 
cases,  the  settlers  were  wholly  unable  to  meet  the  re- 
quired payments,  or  to  improve  or  stock  their  land  in 
such  a  way  as  to  make  the  cultivation  of  the  land 
either  profitable  or  self-sustaining.  Many  of  the  set- 
tlers exhausted  their  resources  in  making  the  first 
payment  and  could  not  make  the  land  yield  enough 
to  cover  the  remaining  installments.  The  interest 
charges  were  usually  too  high  and  could  not  be  met. 

Commenting  on  the  conditions  disclosed  by  the  in- 
vestigation, the  commission,  in  its  report,  says: 

The  inability  of  settlers  to  meet  their  payments  in 
these  different  colonies  does  not  necessarily  mean  that 
the  land  is  not  valuable  for  agriculture  or  horticulture  or 
that,  in  most  cases,  it  is  not  worth  the  price  asked  for  it. 
What  it  does  mean  is  that  we  have  been  carrying  on 
colonization  enterprises  on  an  impossible  financial  plan. 
If  the  settlers  in  these  colonies  where  the  soil  is  good 
and  the  water  supply  satisfactory,  had  been  given  the 
time,  the  interest  rate,  and  the  assistance  in  other  di- 
rections given  settlers  in  Denmark,  Ireland,  Germany, 


136  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

or  Australia,   the  percentage  of   successes  here  would 
have  been  as  large  as  in  those  countries. 

Many  with  whom  this  commission  has  talked  do  not 
think  that  any  changes  are  needed  in  colonization 
methods.  They  say,  "In  the  past  men  paid  for  land  in 
five  years.  Why  can  they  not  do  it  to-day?"  They  seek 
to  explain  the  large  percentage  of  failures  by  the  settlers' 
lack  of  industry  and  frugality.  They  tend  naturally  but 
unwisely  to  continue  along  old  lines,  even  if  they  have 
to  be  content  with  settlers  of  low  ideals  and  a  debased 
standard  of  living.  The  fact  is  that  to-day  men  cannot 
pay  for  land  in  five  years  from  the  profits  from  the  soil. 

There  are  different  ways  of  looking  at  this  problem 
as  it  affects  different  interests.  The  California  com- 
mission, like  most  other  public  bodies,  has  treated  the 
question  mainly  as  an  economic  one,  and  the  work  of 
the  commission  as  intended  to.  benefit  California  and 
advance  her  interest  with  but  scant  consideration  for 
the  people  in  need  of  homes,  the  general  benefit  that 
must  result  from  taking  the  unfortunates  out  of  the 
congested  districts  of  the  cities, — unskilled  laborers 
working  for  starvation  wages, — and  placing  them  on 
small  farms  of  their  own,  where  they  can  live  respect- 
ably and  become  independent  laborers,  self-sustaining, 
and  at  the  same  time  advance  the  agricultural  inter- 
ests of  the  whole  country. 

It  is  this  latter  phase  of  the  subject  that  is  now 
under  consideration,  and  we  must  keep  to  the  subject. 
But  treating  it  solely  from  the  side  of  the  State,  and 
leaving  out  of  sight  the  interest  of  those  needing  to 
be  helped  to  a  better  way  of  living,  how  important 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  137 

it  is  that  we  substitute  for  the  farm-tenant  and  the 
farm-laborer  the  farm-owner,  whose  every  interest  is 
the  improvement  of  his  own  little  farm  and  the  ad- 
vancement of  agricultural  interests  generally. 

The  farm-laborer  is  not  to  be  despised.  His  lot 
should  be  made  far  better  than  it  is  now,  and  farm 
labor  should  be  encouraged  and  made  more  attractive. 
If  this  were  done,  the  laboring  men  in  the  cities  would 
the  more  readily  seek  work  on  the  farm,  as  has  already 
been  suggested.  The  difficulty  of  this  situation  is 
clearly  pointed  out  in  the  report  of  the  commission, 
as  follows: 

Intelligent,  reliable  farm  labor  is  a  growing  need  of 
agriculture  in  practically  every  county.  Men  of  supe- 
rior qualifications  are  needed  to  look  after  blooded  live 
stock,  to  care  for  orchards  and  vineyards,  and  to  do  the 
work  which  requires  interest,  knowledge,  and  skill  on  the 
part  of  the  laborer.  It  is  becoming  increasingly  dif- 
ficult to  keep  men  of  this  type  on  the  farm  because  of 
the  constantly  increased  wages  and  greater  opportunities 
of  the  city. 

Everywhere  it  is  recognized  that  this  is  one  of  the 
most  difficult  problems  connected  with  agricultural  prog- 
ress. Under  the  best  possible  conditions  there  are 
serious  drawbacks  to  farm  labor  which  tend  to  drive 
good  men  away  from  it.  There  is  difficulty  in  providing 
employment  throughout  the  year.  It  is  impossible  to  pay 
as  high  wages  as  are  now  paid  artisans  in  the  cities. 
When  to  this  is  added  social  ostracism  or  at  least  a  posi- 
tion of  social  inferiority  compared  to  city  workers  it  is 
inevitable  that  the  best  American  workers  will  leave  the 
farm. 


138  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  feasible  to  create  conditions 
which  will  make  life  as  a  farm  worker  more  desirable 
and  as  profitable  to  those  with  families  as  is  the  life  of 
the  unskilled  laborer  or  average  artisan  in  cities.  This 
has  been  demonstrated  in  Ireland,  Denmark,  Germany, 
and  Australia.  It  has  been  accomplished  in  these  and 
other  countries  by  enabling  the  laborer  to  own  his  home. 
In  Germany  these  homes  include  from  one  acre  to  five 
acres  of  land.  Such  an  area  in  the  language  of  a  govern- 
ment report,  "permits  of  the  cultivation  of  the  wheat,  po- 
tatoes and  vegetables  for  the  household  and  of  the 
rearing  of  a  few  pigs ;  for  milk,  goats  are  kept  and  some- 
times even  a  cow.  It  has,  besides,  the  great  advantage 
that  it  may  be  cultivated  by  the  wife  and  children 
and  does  not  prevent  the  laborer  from  working  else- 
where." .  .  . 

In  Australia,  where  natural  conditions  are  like  ours, 
there  are  great  areas  of  unpeopled  land.  But  the  earlier 
^nomadic  and  unreliable  farm  labor  is  happily  disap- 
pearing in  the  areas  which  are  being  settled  under  the 
state  system  of  colonization. 

The  first  steps  in  this  reform  were  made  in  the  ir- 
rigated settlements.  In  these,  two-acre  homes  for  farm 
laborers  are  dotted  all  over  the  areas.  Frequently  four 
homes  are  grouped  at  road  crossings.  On  these  two- 
acre  allotments,  the  state  builds,  when  required,  cheap 
but  comfortable  three  or  four-room  houses  and  sells 
the  land  and  houses  to  farm  workers  who  show  evidences 
of  industry,  experience  and  character  and  who  desire 
and  expect  to  make  most  of  their  living  working  for 
wages.  Only  a  nominal  cash  payment  is  required  and  at 
least  twenty  years'  time  with  a  low  rate  of  interest  is 
given  in  which  to  complete  payments. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  139 

The  laborer  obtaining  a  home  under  this  plan  can  keep 
a  cow,  some  pigs,  and  poultry.  He  can  grow  his  own 
vegetables  and  thus  greatly  reduce  the  cost  of  living.  It 
gives  to  his  wife  and  children  a  sense  of  security  and  in- 
dependence. To  them  the  state  becomes  a  benefactor. 
They  love  it  for  what  it  has  done  for  them. 

No  single  feature  of  the  Australian  system  of  closer 
settlement  has  been  more  popular  or  useful  than  the  two- 
acre  farm  laborers'  homes  in  the  irrigation  areas.  The 
laborers  are  contented.  They  are  beautifying  their 
homes  and  are  meeting  their  payments.  They  provide 
reliable  casual  help  for  neighboring  farmers  and 
farmers'  wives.  The  children  are  a  valuable  aid  in  the 
rush  of  the  fruit  picking  season.  Over  8,000  acres  have 
been  absorbed  in  farm  laborers'  allotments  in  the  closer 
settlements  of  the  state  of  Victoria,  Australia;  and  the 
state  is  being  asked  to  buy  land  to  increase  the  number. 
The  farmers  who  ask  for  this  guarantee  permanent  em- 
ployment. 

In  England,  Ireland,  Denmark,  and  Italy  thousands  of 
such  homes  have  been  provided  for  farm  laborers.  Their 
condition  and  their  character  have  been  immensely  im- 
proved by  the  independence  and  the  security  which  come 
with  owning  their  homes  and  little  patches  of  land. 

One  regrettable  feature  of  all  American  rural  life  is 
the  failure  to  recognize  as  fully  as  is  desirable  the  im- 
portance of  the  farm  laborer  as  a  citizen  and  a  voter. 
On  his  character  and  intelligence  depends  quite  largely 
the  productive  value  of  land;  and  in  many  sections  he 
does  much  to  make  rural  communities  socially  desirable 
or  the  reverse.  We  are  giving  a  great  deal  of  attention 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  industrial  worker  and  to  the  con- 
ditions which  govern  his  hours  of  liberty,  his  mode  of 


140  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

living  and  his  competency.  We  should  give  the  same 
attention  to  the  farm  laborer  in  even  a  greater  degree. 
What  he  needs  is  to  have  a  definite  and  self-respecting 
position.  It  ought  to  be  possible  for  the  farm  laborer 
to  marry,  have  a  comfortable  home  for  his  family,  and 
bring  up  his  children  as  self-respecting  members  of  the 
community.  This  is  now  not  even  remotely  possible. 

The  condition  of  the  farm  laborer,  as  disclosed  by  the 
investigation  of  the  State  Immigration  and  Housing 
Commission,  are  a  menace  to  our  industrial  future  and  a 
sorry  commentary  on  our  claim  to  economic  equality. 
It  shows  that  our  farm  labor  is  made  up  of  a  welter  of 
nationalities.  The  list  includes  Albanians,  East  Indians, 
Filipinos,  Greeks,  Spaniards,  Slavonians,  Russians, 
Mexicans,  Maltese,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Portuguese,  Ar- 
menians, Italians,  a  few  Scotchmen  and  Germans,  and 
here  and  there  an  American.  Of  these  60  per  cent,  are 
migratory  and  40  per  cent,  are  local,  with  jobs  averaging 
from  10  to  15  days  in  length.  The  hours  of  labor  are 
from  10  to  16.  Too  often  they  are  poorly  housed. 
Sometimes  they  are  not  housed  at  all ;  instead,  they  may 
lodge  in  the  mesquite  bush  or  the  haystack.  There  is  a 
deep-seated  prejudice  against  American  and  other  white 
farm  laborers.  The  percentage  of  Japanese  and  Hindus 
is  becoming  larger. 

The  degeneration  of  white  laborers  under  these  con- 
ditions is  inevitable.  Many  of  them  become  hoboes. 
They  lose  all  ambition  and  all  regard  for  the  interests  of 
their  employers.  The  sections  of  cities  where  this  kind 
of  labor  congregates  are  injuriously  affected.  As  a  class 
they  are  discontented.  With  their  continuous  tendency 
towards  disturbance  they  are  a  menace  to  political  and 
social  peace. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  141 

The  remedy  for  this  is  to  make  conditions  which  will 
attract  dependable  white  people,  especially  Americans. 
We  can  not  go  on  creating  bad  conditions  of  life  and 
seeking  people  who  are  indifferent  to  those  conditions 
without  destroying  our  rural  civilization. 

This  is  a  plea  for  better  rural  conditions  and  should 
command  our  sympathy.  While  we  are  striving  to 
better  the  condition  of  laborers  in  the  cities  the  condi- 
tions of  laborers  on  the  farm  should  not  be  forgotten. 
The  chief  virtue  of  the  efforts  in  this  direction  in  other 
countries,  as  pointed  out  by  the  commission,  is  the  fact 
that  laborers  are  made  land-owners  and  have  homes 
of  their  own.  No  matter  how  small  the  tract  of  land 
acquired  by  them  may  be,  it  is  home,  and  belongs  to 
them.  It  makes  them  more  independent,  commands 
for  them  more  consideration  and  respect,  and  makes 
farm  labor  more  stable  and  more  reliable  and  trust- 
worthy in  every  way,  thus  benefiting  both  the  laborer 
and  the  landowner  who  employs  him. 

To  make  any  effort  in  this  direction  successful,  it 
must  be  through  government  agencies,  either  State 
or  national,  and  be  kept  under  government  control. 
The  homes  furnished  to  poor  people  in  the  country 
must  be  made  sanitary  and  kept  so,  and  not  be  allowed 
to  degenerate  into  shacks  and  be  overcrowded,  as  they 
are  in  the  cities,  or  little  good  will  come  of  such  a 
movement,  commendable  and  desirable  as  it  is  if  rightly 
inaugurated  and  carried  out. 

To  carry  out  successfully  any  governmental  scheme 
of  land  settlement,  whether  for  cultivation  on  a  larger 


142  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN! 

scale  or  as  homes  for  the  men  who  labor  for  others, 
great  care  will  have  to  be  exercised  in  the  selection 
of  such  settlers.  Indeed,  the  eagerness  of  the  unworthy 
and  undesirables  to  secure  lands  in  this  way  will  be 
its  greatest  danger.  But  the  cities  are  crowded  with 
laboring  men  and  women,  and  their  families,  in  every 
way  worthy  to  participate  in  the  benefits  of  such  a 
movement  and  who,  handicapped  by  their  poverty, 
their  associations,  and  their  environment,  would  with 
such  advantages  make  good  and  reliable  citizens  and 
render  valuable  aid  in  building  up  the  agricultural  and 
industrial  interests  of  the  country.  Many  of  these 
people,  whose  lives  have  fallen  in  unfortunate  places, 
have  everything  necessary  to  their  success  on  the  farm 
except  money.  They  have  energy,  industry,  and  thrift, 
coupled  with  a  wholesome  desire  to  make  themselves 
useful.  This  one  need,  under  proper  regulations  and 
precautions,  can  be  supplied  by  the  Government  with 
safety  and  inestimable  benefit. 

This  State  land-settlement  policy  has  been  adopted 
and  is  working  satisfactorily,  and  with  great  benefit, 
in  not  less  than  fifteen  countries  of  the  world.  The 
United  States  is  far  behind  other  countries  in  this 
great  movement.  This  has  resulted  in  great  part,  no 
doubt,  from  the  fact  that  the  public  lands  of  the  Gov- 
ernment have  been  opened  to  settlement  and  purchase 
at  nominal  prices.  But  that  day  has  gone  by.  But 
little  Government  land,  fit  for  cultivation,  is  left  for 
settlement. 

Besides,  this  does  not  meet  the  present  need  that  is 
pressing  upon  us.  The  great  need  now  is  the  supply 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  143 

to  poor  people  of  money,  or  credit,  to  buy  and  im- 
prove their  lands;  the  money  to  be  repaid  as  they  are 
able.  Congress  has  passed  an  act  designed  to  enable 
the  Government  to  supply  funds  to  farmers,  known 
as  the  Federal  Farm  Loan  Act,  but  its  benefits  are 
restricted  to  farmers  who  can  give  first  mortgage 
security  on  property  worth  double  the  amount  of  the 
loan.  Obviously,  the  relief  provided  by  this  law,  if 
it  shall  prove  to  be  beneficial  at  all,  would  not  reach 
the  cases  now  under  consideration.  These  people  could 
not,  by  any  possibility,  bring  themselves  within  the 
requirements  of  the  law.  It  follows  that  further  legis- 
lation is  necessary,  if  the  National  Government  is  to 
lend  its  aid  to  this  movement.  It  may  be  done,  but 
perhaps  not  so  effectively,  by  the  States.  If  this  is  not 
done,  it  must  be  left  to  public-spirited,  patriotic,  and 
humane  private  citizens  who  are  able  to  see  the  good 
they  can  do  in  this  way  with  their  surplus  money, 
not  only  for  this  unfortunate  class  of  people  but  for 
the  country  at  large. 

The  success  of  land  colonization  and  settlement  in 
other  countries,  especially  in  France  and  Denmark, 
should  appeal  strongly  to  the  law-makers  in  our  own 
country  and  induce  speedy  and  effective  action. 

In  a  late  circular  issued  by  friends  of  land  settle- 
ment, some  phases  of  the  question  are  well  put  in  the 
following  language : 

The  whole  world  is  groping  for  the  proper  method 
of  getting  the  land  into  the  ownership  of  the  people. 
Britain  is  hungry  because  this  has  not  already  been  done 
and  realizes  that  the  men  returning  from  the  trenches 


144  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN,; 

will  no  longer  tolerate  the  maintenance  of  shooting  pre- 
serves while  they  are  without  homes.  Russia  is  in  revo- 
lution with  this  as  one  of  the  mainsprings.  There  is  an 
unrest  even  in  this  country  that  will  not  down,  an  unrest 
that  is  unaware  of  its  own  cause. 

Whatever  the  cause,  its  solution  is  the  conversion  of 
the  dissatisfied  individual  into  a  home  owner.  Peo- 
ple who  own  homes  are  not  agitators.  They  have  some- 
thing to  lose  and  therefore  are  not  for  upheavals  and 
the  torch.  Land-owning  peasants  will  probably  save 
Russia.  Trouble  in  the  future  in  this  country  can  be 
avoided  by  getting  the  land  to  the  people  who  cultivate 
it. 

The  drift  to  the  cities,  the  tendency  toward  tenantry, 
the  ownership  of  land  in  large  tracts  by  absent  landlords, 
have  been  the  most  dangerous  evidences  of  trouble  ahead 
that  have  shown  themselves  in  this  country. 

Over  here  we  see  the  danger  and  know  the  remedy. 
Only  a  great  emergency,  however,  will  arouse  us  to  ap- 
plication of  the  cure.  The  emergency  is  at  hand. 

The  question  of  providing  homes  for  returning  sol- 
diers, by  some  such  means,  is  very  properly  being 
agitated,  at  this  time,  and  may  bring  results,  but  the 
benefits  of  such  legislation  should  not  by  any  means  be 
confined  to  the  soldiers. 

One  good  woman,  well  known  to  the  author,  has 
spent  years  of  her  life  in  the  endeavor  to  work  out 
and  put  in  force  a  system  of  land  settlement  that  would 
reach  and  aid  the  poor  people  in  the  congested  sec- 
tions of  the  great  cities, — those  worthy  of  such  assist- 
ance, and  others  needing  help, — to  abandon  the  lives 
they  are  living  and  go  out  on  the  lands  as  home- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  145 

owners.  In  this  effort  she  has  gathered  together  a 
number  of  distinguished  statesmen,  educators,  and 
philanthropists  anxious  to  assist  in  the  good  work,  and 
organized  what  is  known  as  the  ' 'Forward- to-the- 
Land  League,"  as  a  fitting  instrument  for  carrying  on 
her  work.  In  a  circular  issued  by  the  League  recit- 
ing its  objects  and  purposes  and  the  means  by  which 
it  proposes  to  carry  them  out,  it  is  well  said : 

THE     IMMEDIATE     PROGRAM  I     TO     BRING     TOGETHER     THE 
MAN,   THE   LAND,   AND   THE   CAPITAL 

Owing  to  the  alarming  increase  of  restless  and  migra- 
tory farm  tenantry,  and  the  growing  problems  of  city 
congestion  and  unemployment,  together  with  the  great 
world  demand  for  agricultural  and  allied  products,  and 
because  of  the  vast  area  of  uncultivated  acreage  and  the 
expected  influx  into  America  of  European  farmers  on 
account  of  the  great  war  now  in  progress,  as  well  as  the 
serious  problem  presented  by  the  presence  in  our  cities 
of  vast  numbers  of  immigrants  glutting  our  labor  market, 
who  are  often  especially  fitted  for  agricultural  life ;  the 
following  immediate  program  to  bring  together  the  MAN, 
the  LAND  and  the  necessary  MONEY  to  finance  small 
farm  ownership  is  put  forward.  The  Committee  on  Di- 
rection of  this  organization  is  composed  of  notable  wel- 
fare workers  and  well-known  business  men. 

Men  in  all  States  are  hungry  through  lack  of  work.  In 
all  these  States  are  vast  tracts  idle  for  lack  of  men  to 
cultivate  them.  Yet  the  idle  man  is  as  incapable  of  find- 
ing his  way  to  a  use  of  the  land  as  are  the  waste  places 
of  taking  the  initiative. 

Many  now  holding  jobs  would  abandon  them  and  go  to 


146  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

farming  if  they  could,  thus  making  place  for  some  man 
needing  that  job  who  prefers  city  life. 

Solution  of  the  problems  of  city  congestion  and  unem- 
ployment lies  largely  in  proper  distribution  and  direction. 


FOUR  ACTIVITIES  NOW 

The  National  Forward-to-the-Land  League  has  four 
distinct  though  interrelated  activities  as  the  beginning  of 
its  program :  ( i )  BUREAU  OF  LAND  AND  HOME  WELFARE 
INFORMATION;  (2)  COLONIZATION,  embracing  scientific 
direction  and  social  organization;  (3)  RURAL  CREDIT; 

(4)     MARKETS. 

This  effort  was  well  inaugurated  and  seemed  to  be 
on  the  way  to  success  when  our  country  entered  the 
European  war.  This  put  an  end  to  the  movement,  for 
the  time  being;  but  the  war  may  in  the  end  make  it 
even  more  vitally  necessary  than  ever. 

In  this  situation,  which  made  any  private  effort  in 
this  direction  next  to  impossible,  Congress  was  ap- 
pealed to  to  render  the  necessary  assistance  to  carry 
the  work  along  as  a  public  need.  The  following  reci- 
tal of  some  of  the  work  done  by  this  League  and  its 
reasons  for  thinking  that  such  a  movement  as  it  has 
in  contemplation  will  bring  beneficial  and  lasting  re- 
sults is  worthy  of  consideration: 

Our  League  conducted  a  bureau  of  information  on  the 
east  side  of  New  York  City  for  nearly  a  year.  We  had 
night  classes  in  gardening  and  household  economics, 
taught  by  the  Extension  Department  of  the  State  Agri- 
cultural College.  There  were  thousands  of  applicants  of 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  147 

all  nationalities  who  wanted  farms.  Seventy-five  per 
cent,  had  had  farm  experience  here  or  abroad,  but  less 
than  one  per  cent,  were  willing  to  go  to  isolated  farms  and 
cope  with  the  problems  presented  by  such  locations. 
They  are  keen  to  go  out  in  groups  and  build  up  rural  vil- 
lages such  as  exist  abroad.  They  want  the  standard  of 
rural  community  recommended  by  our  League.  They 
insist  that  their  children  have  proper  school  facilities  and 
that  the  school  is  to  be  utilized  as  a  social  center.  Money 
or  land  alone  will  not  solve  the  problem.  What  the  peo- 
ple themselves  demand  must  be  the  ultimate  criterion. 
The  war  has  taught  us  the  necessity  for  local  self-suf- 
ficiency. Our  country  made  its  greatest  progress  dur- 
the  time  when  the  small  village  with  its  surrounding  farm 
settlements  was  in  full  flower.  Lack  of  communication 
ultimately  broke  up  these  self-sustaining  farm  communi- 
ties and  the  drift  to  the  city  began.  To-day  we  have  the 
means  of  communication  and  transportation,  lack  of 
which  was  the  primary  cause  of  our  city  congestion.  We 
should,  therefore,  in  organizing  these  groups  for  crop 
production  this  year,  attempt  to  place  the  people  on 
such  tracts  of  agricultural  land  near  our  large  cities  as 
the  owners  place  at  our  disposal  at  a  reasonable  price  and 
on  such  terms  of  payment  as  can  be  met  by  the  poorest 
from  the  farm  earnings.  During  the  first  year  this  land 
must  be  free  to  the  settlers.  Love  of  home  ownership 
is  the  strongest  passion  in  the  human  heart  and  should 
be  used  as  the  motive  power  to  place  families  on  farms 
and  cause  them  to  work  with  patriotic  fervor  without  con- 
scription. It  has  been  aptly  said  that  "no  man  ever 
shouldered  a  musket  for  a  boarding  house." 

The  work  so  auspiciously  entered  upon  by  the  League 
might  well  be  made  the  foundation  for  a  more  extended 


148  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN/ 

investigation  and  operation  by  the  Government.  How- 
ever this  may  be,  we  may  be  reasonably  well  assured 
that  this  beneficent  work,  so  vital  to  so  many  people 
and  to  the  welfare  and  best  interests  of  the  whole  coun- 
try, will  not  stop  here. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  CHURCHES 

WHEN  one  thinks  of  the  wage-earners  and  the  poor 
and  needy,  one's  thoughts  turn,  almost  instinctively, 
to  the  church  as  the  one  instrument  through  and  by 
which  help  could  be  brought  to  these  unfortunates. 
Surely  such  as  these  need  spiritual  consolation  and  re- 
generation as  well  as  physical  comforts.  But  when 
one  turns  to  the  church  as  a  means  of  relief  from  the 
conditions  we  have  been  considering,  one  meets  only 
with  disappointment.  For  some  reason  not  easy  to 
understand,  the  church  has  failed  to  meet  its  plain 
Christian  duty  towards  this  class  of  people. 

In  a  little  book,  "Your  Part  in  Poverty,"  by  George 
Lansbury,  dealing  with  the  condition  of  the  poor  in 
England,  a  book  that  every  American  as  well  as  every 
Englishman  should  read,  this  is  said  of  organized  re- 
ligion, or  the  churches : 

Religion  plays  but  a  small  and  insignificant  part  in  the 
life  of  any  commercial  nation.  I  have  traveled  all  round 
the  world,  have  seen  life  under  the  Southern  Cross  in 
Australia,  in  the  United  States  of  America,  in  Canada, 
and  on  the  Continent  of  Europe,  and  what  strikes  me 
more  than  anything  else  is  the  complete  divorce  between 
organized  religion  and  the  people.  The  people  are  not, 

149 


ISO  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

and  never  have  been,  actively  hostile  to  religion,  but  the 
organizations  for  the  spread  of  religion  have  failed,  and 
are  still  failing,  to  get  any  sort  of  hold  on  the  common 
people,  who  do  not  oppose  nor  accept  religion,  but  re- 
main completely  indifferent.  The  reason  for  this  is  that 
religion,  like  everything  else  in  the  world  to-day,  is 
looked  upon  by  most  of  us  as  a  matter  of  business. 

It  is  well  that  this  criticism  is  limited  to  "organized 
religion."  True  religion  is  the  refuge  and  the  support 
of  the  poor  and  lowly  as  well  as  of  the  rich  and  pow- 
erful. It  is  the  administration  or  application  of  re- 
ligion and  the  methods  of  religious  teaching  by  organ- 
ized bodies  of  so-called  "Christians"  that  is  at  fault. 
There  are  many  individual  Christian  people  whose 
sympathies  go  out  to  these  unfortunate  people,  in  full 
measure,  and  whose  lives  are  given  up  to  laudable 
efforts  to  relieve  their  condition.  But  the  churches 
spend  millions  in  the  erection  of  fine  places  of  wor- 
ship, and  the  poor  go  hungry  and  unclothed.  They 
spend,  too,  millions  more  in  missionary  work  in  for- 
eign countries,  while  the  darkest  ignorance  of  Christ- 
ianity, criminal  practices,  want,  and  destitution  flourish 
almost  within  the  shadow  of  these  costly  edifices  de- 
voted to  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  religion  and 
dedicated  to  the  service  of  God  and  the  propagation 
of  the  principle  of  brotherly  love.  Millions  more 
are  spent  in  munificent  salaries  to  distinguished  and 
gifted  pulpit  orators,  who  preach  to  pews  filled  with 
the  rich  and  powerful,  dressed  in  their  broadcloth  and 
their  silks  and  satins,  who  go  away  to  praise  the  min- 
ister who  has  edified  them  by  his  eloquence  and  given 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  151 

them  a  pleasant  hour.  The  poor  are  not  found  there 
and  those  who  listen  do  not  go  down  among  the  poor 
and  the  lowly.  On  the  morrow  they  are  found  in  their 
places  of  business, — the  manufactory,  the  bank,  the 
counting  house,  valiantly  striving  for  the  almighty  dol- 
lar, or  enjoying  the  opera,  pink  teas,  or  bridge  whist. 

What  have  these  to  do  with  the  tribulations,  the  pri- 
vations, the  sorrows  of  the  poor!  What  concern  is  it 
of  theirs  that  the  other  half  of  the  world,  of  which 
they  are  not  a  part,  live  in  squalor  and  want,  without 
religious  consolation  or  Christian  aid!  Are  these  the 
followers  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whose  ministrations 
were  among  the  poor  and  lowly  ?  How  the  true  Christ- 
ian people  belonging  to  these  religious  organizations 
must  suffer  under  these  conditions!  How  they  must 
long  for  some  Christian  leader  that  will  turn  the  church 
back  to  its  true  and  exalted  divine  mission. 

The  one  great  and  controlling  cause  of  this  falling 
away  of  the  church  from  its  holy  mission  is  not  far 
to  seek.  The  church,  like  every  other  avenue  of 
human  endeavor,  has  been  desecrated  by  the  spirit  of 
commercialism  that  is  ruling  the  world  to-day.  Its 
pews  are  filled  by  "captains  of  industry,"  whose  whole 
thought  is  centered  on  the  acquisition  of  greater  wealth, 
and  to  whom  church-going  is  only  a  pastime.  The 
presence  of  such  as  these,  and  their  contributions  to 
the  church,  are  necessary  to  maintain  the  expensive 
organization.  The  vulgar  display  of  wealth  in  the 
churches,  their  submission  to  the  control  of  the  rich, 
and  their  disregard  of  the  crying  necessities  of  the 
poor  are  offenses  against  Christianity  and  true  religion. 


152  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

In  any  struggle  between  Capital  and  Labor,  no  matter 
how  just  may  be  the  demands  of  the  wage-earners, 
who  can  point  to  any  of  the  great  churches  taking  the 
side  of  the  workingmen  struggling  for  fair  wages  and 
just  treatment?  What  one  of  the  great  metropolitan 
churches  would  dare  to  stand  with  the  wage-earners 
as  against  the  employer  class?  It  would  mean  de- 
serted pews  and  diminution  of  revenue  that  could  not 
be  endured.  They  must  either  espouse  the  cause  of  the 
industrial  overlords,  who  support  the  churches,  or  as- 
sume a  neutral  attitude.  They  generally  choose  the 
latter  as  the  safest  course,  and  with  this  the  patrons 
of  the  churches  are  satisfied. 

These  strictures  on  the  present  attitude  of  organized 
religion  towards  the  poor  and  needy,  who  should  find 
refuge  and  help  in  their  teachings  and  practices,  may 
seem  harsh,  but  they  are  not  unjust.  This  failure  of 
the  churches  to  respond  to  the  needs  of  the  poor,  and 
to  aid  in  the  effort  being  made  by  philanthropists 
and  humanitarians  to  reform  social  conditions,  is  dis- 
appointing in  the  extreme.  The  churches  have  their 
charitable  committees  and  other  organizations,  who 
look  after  the  physical  needs  of  the  poor  in  some  de- 
gree. For  this  they  should  have  full  credit.  But  this 
is  not  enough.  This  is  not  living  up  to  the  teachings 
of  the  Master.  This  is  charity  not  religion,  and  may 
be  found  outside  the  church  as  well  as  within  it.  The 
spiritual  needs  of  these  people  must  be  met  as  well 
as  their  physical  needs ;  and  who  so  fit  to  fill  this  need, 
and  upon  whom  does  the  duty  of  ministering  to  them 
rest,  if  not  upon  organized  religion! 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  153 

It  is  the  mind  that  needs  to  be  ministered  to  even 
more  than  the  body.  A  clean  mind  makes  a  clean 
body.  Right  thinking  makes  right  living.  Peace  of 
mind,  a  reliance  upon  God  as  the  source  of  all  good 
and  the  preserver  of  man,  would  bring  health  and 
happiness,  prosperity  and  regeneration  to  thousands 
now  living  in  spiritual  darkness  and  physical  want 
and  degradation.  Who  is  to  bring  to  these  unfortu- 
nates this  blessing  of  understanding,  right  living,  and 
right  thinking,  this  reliance  upon  divine  help  as  the 
only  means  of  deliverance  from  the  bondage  in  which 
they  are  living,  if  not  the  churches? 

If  this  little  book  can  do  no  more  than  to  arouse 
the  churches  to  a  higher  sense  of  their  religious  duty 
in  this  respect,  its  preparation  will  not  have  been  labor 
in  vain.  Sad  as  it  is,  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the 
churches,  as  a  rule,  are  out  of  touch  with  the  people 
who,  more  than  all  others,  need  their  help  and  the 
comforts  of  religion.  They  have  shown  their  indif- 
ference to  and  neglect  of  those  who  need  them  and 
their  ministrations  every  day.  As  a  consequence,  the 
working-people  no  longer  sympathize  with  the  church. 
They  no  longer  look  to  organized  religion  for  sympathy 
or  for  help.  This  is  quite  as  unfortunate  for  the 
church  as  it  is  for  the  people  who  should  look  to  them 
for  aid  and  comfort.  The  time  is  coming,  let  us  hope, 
when  there  will  be  a  peaceful  revolution  against  present 
church  organizations  and  church  methods  that  will  re- 
store true  religion,  and  make  church  organizations  real 
followers  of  the  great  Teacher,  and  the  servants  of  the 
true  God. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

DEMOCRACY 
A.     WHAT   IS   DEMOCRACY? 

THE  foundation  stone  of  true  and  real  Democracy 
is  equality;  equality  before  the  law,  equality  of  op- 
portunity; political,  social,  and  industrial  equality. 
This  is  perfect,  ideal  Democracy.  We  have  not  at- 
tained to  it,  perhaps  we  never  shall;  but  we  should  be 
mindful  of  it  always  and  come  as  near  to  its  attain- 
ment as  human  institutions,  rightly  established  and 
operated,  can  accomplish  it.  It  was  this  kind  of  Dem- 
ocracy that  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  had  in 
mind  when  the  Government  was  formed.  The  funda- 
mental principle  of  Democracy  is  stated  in  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence : 

/We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self-evident,  that  all  men 
are  created  equal;  that  they  are  endowed  by  their  Creator 
with  certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among  these  are 
life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  That  to  se- 
cure these  rights,  governments  are  instituted  among  men, 
deriving  their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed;  that,  whenever  any  form  of  government  be- 
comes destructive  of  these  ends,  it  is  the  right  of  the 
people  to  alter  or  to  abolish  it,  and  to  institute  a  new 

154 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  155 

government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such  principles, 
and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form,  as  to  them  shall 
seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness. 


Here  we  have  two  vital  elements  of  Democracy, 
namely :  the  equality  of  all  men  and  the  power  of  the 
people  to  govern ;  what  Mr.  Lincoln  called  a  "govern- 
ment of  the  people,  for  the  people,  by  the  people. " 
The  Constitution  was  admirably  designed  to  make 
these  fundamental  principles  of  Democracy  effective. 
It  commences  with  this  solemn  declaration: 

We,  the  People  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form 
a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote 
the  general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty 
to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish 
this  CONSTITUTION  for  the  United  States  of 
America. 

This  is  followed  by  the  establishment  of  three  de- 
partments of  government,  the  Legislative,  to  make  the 
laws ;  the  Executive,  to  administer  them,  and  the  Judi- 
cial, to  construe  and  enforce  them;  each  made  inde- 
pendent of  the  other  in  its  sphere  of  action.  The 
powers  of  each  of  these  departments  are  specifically 
defined  and  limited.  Following  the  provisions  of  the 
Constitution,  they  define  and  protect  the  rights,  the 
liberties,  and  the  freedom  of  the  people  and  guard 
them  against  arbitrary  or  unlawful  encroachments  upon 
those  rights  by  any  department  of  government  or  pub- 


156  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MANi 

lie  authority,  State  or  national.  This  gave  us  what 
has  been  termed  a  "Representative  Democracy,"  a  gov- 
ernment controlled  by  the  people,  but  acting  through 
representatives  chosen  by  them  and  responsible  to  them 
for  their  conduct. 

This  form  of  government  was  simple  enough,  and 
adequate  for  the  purpose  intended  to  be  carried  out. 
As  time  went  on,  Amendments  to  the  Constitution, 
intended  mainly  to  make  more  secure  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people,  were  proposed  by  Congress, 
and  adopted  by  the  people. 

For  the  more  than  a  century  since  the  Government 
was  formed  the  people  have  never  lost  faith  in  this 
Constitution,  nor  lost  their  respect  and  reverence  for 
the  principles  of  government  embraced  in  its  terms. 
The  country  has  passed  through  many  vicissitudes ;  its 
population  has  increased  from  a  mere  handful  to  over 
a  hundred  millions  of  people;  its  affairs  have  become 
more  and  more  complicated;  it  has  been  shaken  to 
its  foundation  by  civil  war  and  is  now  engaged  in  the 
greatest  war  the  world  has  ever  known ;  it  has  become 
rich  and  powerful;  its  people  have,  by  circumstances 
growing  out  of  its  increasing  wealth,  been  divided 
into  classes,  and  Capital  and  Labor  are  at  war  with 
each  other;  millions  of  former  slaves  have  been  lib- 
erated as  a  result  of  civil  war  and  have  been  granted 
the  right  of  suffrage,  and  in  a  number  of  States  the 
right  of  suffrage  has  been  granted  to  women,  and  others 
will  follow,  until  the  right  becomes  national;  but 
through  all  these  changes  the  Constitution  established 
at  the  birth  of  the  nation  has  stood,  and  stands  to- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  157 

day,  unshaken  and  untouched, — the  fundamental  law 
of  a  great  Democracy. 

More  than  a  half-century  ago  Alexis  Charles  Henri 
Clerel  de  Tocqueville,  a  distinguished  French  noble- 
man and  aristocrat,  made  a  critical  study  of  the  insti- 
tutions and  conditions  in  this  country,  and  embodied 
his  views  respecting  them  in  a  book  he  entitled,  "Dem- 
ocracy in  America."  The  book  excited  great  interest 
in  this  country,  and  has  been  regarded  as  a  fair  and 
unbiased  discussion  of  the  principles  of  our  Govern- 
ment and  its  probable  future. 

In  the  introductory  chapter  of  the  work,  M.  de 
Tocqueville,  speaking  of  the  equality  of  conditions  pre- 
vailing then  in  America,  says : 

Amongst  the  novel  objects  that  attracted  my  attention 
during  my  stay  in  the  United  States,  nothing  struck  me 
more  forcibly  than  the  general  equality  of  conditions.  I 
readily  discovered  the  prodigious  influence  which  this 
primary  fact  exercises  on  the  whole  course  of  society,  by 
giving  a  certain  direction  to  public  opinion,  and  a  certain 
tenor  to  the  laws;  by  imparting  new  maxims  to  the 
governing  powers,  and  peculiar  habits  to  the  governed. 
I  speedily  perceived  that  the  influence  of  this  fact  ex- 
tends far  beyond  the  political  character  and  the  laws  of 
the  country,  and  that  it  has  no  less  empire  over  civil  so- 
ciety than  over  the  Government ;  it  creates  opinions,  en- 
genders sentiments,  suggests  the  ordinary  practices  of 
life,  and  modifies  whatever  it  does  not  produce.  The 
more  I  advanced  in  the  study  of  American  society,  the 
more  I  perceived  that  the  equality  of  conditions  is  the 
fundamental  fact  from  which  all  others  seem  to  be 


158  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

derived,  and  the  central  point  at  which  all  my  observa- 
tions constantly  terminated. 

The  equality  of  conditions  to  which,  it  is  supposed, 
the  author  refers,  no  longer  exist  in  the  same  degree 
that  it  did  in  those  earlier  days.  The  growing  wealth 
of  the  country,  concentrated  in  the  hands  of  the  few, 
and  the  increasing  power  and  influence  of  the  very 
rich,  the  great  corporations,  and  other  combinations 
of  wealth,  and  the  growing  subjection  of  the  laboring 
classes  to  the  dominating  and  arrogant  power  of  the 
employer  class,  have  gone  far  to  destroy  the  "equality 
of  conditions"  which  the  distinguished  author  seemed 
to  regard  as  so  important.  Farther  along  in  this  book 
this  phase  of  the  subject  will  be  considered  more  spe- 
cifically and  in  detail. 

Let  us  follow  the  friendly  French  critic  of  our  prin- 
ciples of  government  a  little  farther  in  this  connection. 
Of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people,  on  which  our  gov- 
ernment is  founded,  he  says : 

In  America  the  principle  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  peo- 
ple is  not  either  barren  or  concealed,  as  it  is  with  some 
other  nations ;  it  is  recognized  by  the  customs  and  pro- 
claimed by  the  laws ;  it  spreads  freely,  and  arrives  with- 
out impediment  at  its  most  remote  consequences.  If 
there  be  a  country  in  the  world  where  the  doctrine  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  can  be  fairly  appreciated,  where 
it  can  be  studied  in  its  application  to  the  affairs  of 
society,  and  where  its  dangers  and  its  advantages  may  be 
foreseen,  that  country  is  assuredly  America. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  159 

It  is  not  my  purpose  now  to  enter  into  any  extended 
discussion  of  the  principles  of  Democracy,  but  to  treat 
the  subject  only  in  a  very  general  way;  to  consider 
briefly  the  effect  of  these  principles  upon  social  con- 
ditions; to  trace  the  history  of  Democracy  in  our 
own  country,  and  to  point  out  some  of  the  dangers 
that  are  threatening  to  destroy  those  principles  and  to 
build  up  an  aristocracy  of  wealth,  more  obnoxious  than 
the  hereditary  rank  and  aristocracies  of  European 
countries,  and  an  autocratic  government  made  possi- 
ble by  the  breaking  down  of  constitutional  barriers 
and  limitations  intended  to  protect  the  rights  and  lib- 
erties of  the  people. 

A  pure  democracy, — a  government  by  the  people 
acting  directly  and  in  the  mass  and  not  through  rep- 
resentatives, which  may  be  termed  pure  Democracy, — 
is  practically  impossible  in  a  great  countrj^like  ours. 
It  has  prevailed  in  New  England  in  the  smaller  com- 
munities, action  being  taken  in  town  meetings,  but 
this  to  a  very  limited  extent.  Whether,  however,  they 
act  directly  or  through  representatives,  there  can  be 
no  Democracy  in  the  proper  sense  unless  the  ultimate 
power  rests  in  the  people  and  they  are  supreme.  This 
sovereign  power  in  the  people  is  the  very  spirit  and 
essence  of  Democracy.  But  this  power  must  be  exer- 
cised under  constitutional  restraints  and  limitations, 
or  Democracy  may  degenerate  into  anarchy  or  an  oli- 
garchy of  the  select  few. 

At  the  same  time,  the  essence  of  Democracy  lies 
largely  in  the  abolition  of  conditions  which  shall  give 
constitutional  permanence  to  class  distinctions.  This 


160  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

was  one  of  the  prime  purposes  and  objects  of  the  Con- 
stitution. After  all,  however,  a  country  cannot  be 
made  democratic  by  law.  We  must  distinguish  be- 
tween "political  and  social  democracy,  between  the 
democracy  of  laws  and  the  democracy  of  sentiment 
and  manners."  There  may  be  complete  political  dem- 
ocracy and  great  social  distinctions.  Our  experience 
has  demonstrated  this  fact  completely  and  beyond  dis- 
pute. It  has  been  very  well  said  that  "the  example 
of  the  American  people  shows  that  democratic  politi- 
cal institutions  are  compatible  with  very  great  inequal- 
ities in  cultivation,  manners,  style  of  living,  social  con- 
sideration, and  the  distribution  of  property." 
Again,  it  has  been  said : 

The  fundamental  basis  of  democracy  is  the  recognition 
of  the  rights  of  man,  as  man.  Its  central  principle  is  the 
equality  of  all  men  before  the  law,  without  regard  to 
birth,  property  or  social  rank;  from  which  principle  is 
deduced  the  right  of  all  men  to  an  equal  voice  or  vote 
in  deciding  upon  public  affairs,  or  in  selecting  agents 
and  representatives  to  perform  the  functions  of  legis- 
lation and  to  execute  the  laws. 

The  principles  of  Democracy,  and  the  stability  of 
our  free  Republic,  are  now  undergoing  the  supreme 
test,  as  we  pass  through  the  crucible  of  a  great  for- 
eign war  with  all  that  it  implies.  That  it  will  with- 
stand this  test  and  come  out  of  the  war  chastened, 
regenerated,  and  made  stronger  and  more  truly  demo- 
cratic is  the  hope  and  trust  of  all  true  and  loyal  Amer- 
icans. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  161 

Having  in  a  general  way  considered  what  constitutes 
Democracy  and  our  institutions  founded  upon  demo- 
cratic principles,  let  us  turn  for  a  moment  to  the 
contemplation  of  some  of  the  dangers  of  Democracy, 
and  to  the  Government,  that  now  exist  or  that  may 
arise  in  the  future.  If  such  dangers  do  exist  or  are 
likely  to  confront  us  in  the  future,  the  American  peo- 
ple should  be  awake  and  prepared  to  meet  them  before 
it  is  too  late. 

B.    WAR  ENDANGERS  DEMOCRACY 

AT  this  time,  when  our  country  is  actually  engaged 
in  a  great  war  with  foreign  nations,  it  is  only  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  consider  what  effect  such  a  war  may 
have  on  our  form  of  government  and  the  democratic 
principles  upon  which  it  is  founded.  It  has  already 
been  demonstrated  beyond  a  peradventure  that  a  demo- 
cratic government  is  not  fitted  to  carry  on  a  war.  It 
lacks  strength  and  concentration  of  action  and  pur- 
pose. We  have  found  it  necessary  almost  at  the  very 
beginning  to  vest  in  the  President  autocratic  powers 
never  dreamed  of  in  times  of  peace.  These  powers 
extend  far  beyond  the  mere  conduct  of  the  military 
movements  and  the  control  of  the  army.  They  reach 
into  the  business,  social,  and  domestic  affairs  of  the 
people,  and  into  every  American  home.  This  is  not 
said  in  criticism  of  this  extraordinary  increase  of 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  executive.  It  is  one  of 
the  necessary  evils  of  war,  and  if  not  carried  to  ex- 
cess,  is  justifiable  as  a  war  measure. 


162  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

It  has  been  very  well  said  by  a  great  statesman  that 
"it  is  of  the  nature  of  war  to  increase  the  executive 
at  the  expense  of  the  legislative  authority."  In  our 
own  experience  we  have,  of  late,  been  verifying  this 
statement.  Never  in  all  our  history  has  the  legislative 
branch  of  the  Government  so  completely  surrendered 
its  powers  and  its  functions  to  the  executive.  If  this 
exaltation  of  executive  power  shall  be  only  temporary 
and  the  result  of  the  necessities  and  exigencies  of 
war,  it  need  not  excite  any  great  alarm;  but,  as  will 
appear  further  along,  this  tendency  to  increase  the 
•executive  power  at  the  expense  of  the  legislative  has 
pot  been  confined  to  war  times  nor  founded  on  war 
necessities.  This  being  so,  and  it  cannot  be  disputed, 
there  is  reason  for  grave  apprehensions  for  the  future, 
calling  for  exalted,  disinterested  patriotism  that  shall 
put  an  end  to  this  tendency  towards  unconstitutional 
usurpation  of  power  dangerous  to  the  Republic.  Pow- 
er once  assumed  is  reluctantly  surrendered. 

It  is  in  this  particular,  more  perhaps  than  any  other, 
that  a  condition  of  war  may  be  regarded  as  a  grave 
menace  to  Democracy.  Turning  again  to  de  Tocque- 
ville's  ' 'Democracy  in  America,"  we  find  him  say- 
ing: 

The  most  important  occurrence  which  can  mark  the 
annals  of  a  people  is  the  breaking  out  of  a  war.  In 
war  a  people  struggles  with  the  energy  of  a  single  man 
against  foreign  nations  in  the  defense  of  its  very  ex- 
istence. The  skill  of  a  government,  the  good  sense  of 
the  community,  and  the  natural  fondness  which  men  en- 
tertain for  their  country,  may  suffice  to  maintain  peace  in 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  163 

the  interior  of  a  district,  and  to  favor  its  internal  pros- 
perity ;  but  a  nation  can  only  carry  on  a  great  war  at  the 
cost  of  more  numerous  and  more  painful  sacrifices ;  and 
to  suppose  that  a  great  number  of  men  will  of  their  own 
accord  comply  with  these  exigencies  of  the  State  is  to 
betray  an  ignorance  of  mankind.  All  the  peoples  which 
have  been  obliged  to  sustain  a  long  and  serious  warfare 
have  consequently  been  led  to  augment  the  power  of 
their  government.  Those  which  have  not  succeeded  in 
this  attempt  have  been  subjugated.  A  long  war  almost 
always  places  nations  in  the  wretched  alternative  of  be- 
ing abandoned  to  ruin  by  defeat  or  to  despotism  by 
success.  War  therefore  renders  the  symptoms  of  the 
weakness  of  a  government  most  palpable  and  most  alarm- 
ing; and  I  have  shown  that  the  inherent  defeat  of 
federal  governments  is  that  of  being  weak.  .  .  . 

The  great  advantage  of  the  United  States  does  not, 
then,  consist  in  a  Federal  Constitution  which  allows  them 
to  carry  on  great  wars,  but  in  a  geographical  position 
which  renders  such  enterprises  extremely  improbable. 

No  one  can  be  more  inclined  than  I  am  myself  to  ap- 
preciate the  advantages  of  the  federal  system,  which  I 
hold  to  be  one  of  the  combinations  most  favorable  to 
the  prosperity  and  freedom  of  man.  I  envy  the  lot  of 
those  nations  which  have  been  enabled  to  adopt  it;  but 
I  cannot  believe  that  any  confederate  peoples  could  main- 
tain a  long  or  an  equal  contest  with  a  nation  of  similar 
strength  in  which  the  government  should  be  centralized. 
A  people  which  should  divide  its  sovereignty  into  frac- 
tional powers,  in  the  presence  of  the  great  military  mon- 
archies of  Europe,  would,  in  my  opinion,  by  that  very 
act,  abdicate  its  power,  and  perhaps  its  existence  and  its 
name.  But  such  is  the  admirable  position  of  the  New 


164  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

World  that  man  has  no  other  enemy  than  himself;  and 
that,  in  order  to  be  happy  and  to  be  free,  it  suffices  to 
seek  the  gifts  of  prosperity  and  the  knowledge  of  free- 
dom. 

Let  us  hope  that  the  war  in  which  we  are  now  en- 
gaged will  not  be  a  long  one;  that  the  necessity  for 
increasing  the  executive  power  beyond  constitutional 
limits  because  of  the  war  may  soon  pass,  and  the  coun- 
try be  brought  within  the  limitations  of  the  demo- 
cratic principles  upon  which  the  Government  has  for 
more  than  a  hundred  years  securely  rested.  The  wis- 
dom and  patriotism  of  the  American  people  may  safely 
be  trusted  to  bring  this  about,  if  they  are  not  misled 
by  the  ambitions  of  unworthy  representatives,  or  co- 
erced by  the  powerful  influence  of  selfish  interests. 
The  masses  of  the  people  are  loyal  to  the  democratic 
principles  of  their  country  and  if  made  to  understand 
what  is  necessary  to  protect  their  rights  and  liberties, 
citizens  of  a  free  Republic  will  not  be  found  wanting. 
But  we  can  no  longer  feel  safe  and  secure  because  of 
our  isolation  or  separation  by  the  wide  ocean  from 
/other  nations.  De  Tocqueville  regarded  this  condition 
of  isolation  as  one  of  our  chief  safeguards  against 
war.  Of  this  he  said  : 

The  Americans  have  no  neighbors,  and  consequently 
they  have  no  great  wars,  or  financial  crises,  or  inroads, 
or  conquest  to  dread;  they  require  neither  great  taxes, 
nor  great  armies,  nor  great  generals;  and  they  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  a  scourge  which  is  more  formidable 
to  republics  than  all  these  evils  combined,  namely,  mili- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  165 

tary  glory.  It  is  impossible  to  deny  the  inconceivable  in- 
fluence which  military  glory  exercises  upon  the  spirit  of 
a  nation. 


Jut  the  advancement  of  science,  improved  methods 
of  transportation,  and  our  extended  commercial  trade/ 
and  interests  have  brought  us  into  close  proximity  to 
the  powerful  nations  of  the  world.  This  closer  con- 
nection with  foreign  nations  has  brought  with  it  grave 
responsibilities  and  dangers  from  which  we  once  be- 
lieved ourselves  to  be  free.  Indeed,  it  is  this  closer 
relationship  to  other  nations  that  has  brought  us  into 
this  war.  The  ocean  is  no  longer  a  barrier  or  protec- 
tion against  foreign  wars.  We  ourselves  are  solving 
the  problem  of  ocean  transportation  that  is  making 
European  nations  our  neighbors.  No  matter  how 
great  the  change  in  this  respect  has  been,  we  cannot 
conceal  from  ourselves  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of 
George  Washington  in  his  "Farewell  Address,"  or 
suppress  a  feeling  of  regret  that  we  have  not  been 
able  to  follow  that  advice.  He  says : 

Europe  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to  us 
have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation.  Hence,  she  must 
be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the  causes  of  which 
are  essentially  foreign  to  our  concerns.  Hence,  there- 
fore, it  must  be  unwise  in  us  to  implicate  ourselves,  by 
artificial  ties,  in  the  ordinary  vicissitudes  of  her  politics, 
or  the  ordinary  combinations  and  collisions  of  her  friend- 
ships or  enmities. 

Our  detached  and  distant  situation  invites  and  enables 
us  to  pursue  a  different  course.  If  we  remain  one  peo- 


r66  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

pie,  under  an  efficient  government,  the  period  is  not  far 
off  when  we  may  defy  material  injury  from  external 
annoyance;  when  we  may  take  such  an  attitude  as  will 
cause  the  neutrality  we  may  at  any  time  resolve  upon, 
to  be  scrupulously  respected;  when  belligerent  nations, 
under  the  impossibility  of  making  acquisitions  upon  us, 
will  not  lightly  hazard  the  giving  us  provocation,  when 
we  may  choose  peace  or  war,  as  our  interest,  guided  by 
justice,  shall  counsel. 

Why  forego  the  advantages  of  so  peculiar  a  situation? 
Why  quit  our  own  to  stand  upon  foreign  ground  ?  Why, 
by  interweaving  our  destiny  with  that  of  any  part  of 
Europe,  entangle  our  peace  and  prosperity  in  the  toils 
of  European  ambition,  rivalship,  interest,  humor,  or 
caprice  ? 

Millions  of  patriotic  and  liberty-loving  people  sin- 
cerely believed  that  we  should  not  enter  into  this  war. 
They  conscientiously  believed  that  the  interests  of  our 
own  country  and  of  all  humanity  demanded  that  we 
remain  neutral.  But  other  millions,  many  of  whom 
were  equally  patriotic,  sincere,  and  conscientious,  be- 
lieved that  we  were  called  upon  to  enlist  in  the  war  in 
defense  of  Democracy  and  as  a  safeguard  against 
foreign  invasion  of  our  rights;  to  establish  for  the 
world  the  democratic  principles  for  which  we  stand, 
and  to  make  the  world  safe  for  those  principles. 

The  view  of  those  who  believed  we  should  go  to 
war  prevailed.  War  was  declared  in  the  way  au- 
thorized by  the  Constitution,  and  as  a  consequence  the 
burdens,  the  privations,  the  sacrifices,  and  the  sorrows 
and  afflictions  of  a  great  war  are  upon  us. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  167 

Having  entered  the  war,  no  true  American  will  be 
seeking  to  avoid  the  responsibilities  of  citizenship  that 
it  involves.  All  will  bear  their  share  of  the  burden 
with  patriotic  patience  and  fortitude,  and  look  forward 
to  a  successful  termination  of  the  war  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  an  honorable,  just,  and  lasting  peace  ap- 
proved by  the  conscience  of  the  world.  And  when 
the  war  is  over  every  true  American  will  stand  loyally 
for  the  restoration  of  our  democratic  principles  at 
home,  and  their  preservation  in  all  their  purity,  as  a 
sure  protection  to  all  men  in  every  station  in  life  and 
the  suppression  of  every  tendency  towards  aristocracy, 
class  distinctions,  or  autocratic  power.  Thus  will  we 
demonstrate  the  justice  and  the  stability  of  our  free 
institutions  and  their  ability  to  withstand  the  dangers 
and  evil  influences  of  a  great  and  prolonged  war. 

C.    BIG    BUSINESS    A    MENACE    TO    DEMOCRACY 

"BiG  BUSINESS"  so-called,  the  combinations  of  great 
wealth  in  powerful  corporations  and  the  consolidation 
and  intertwining  of  interests  of  these  immense  aggre- 
gations of  wealth,  constitutes  a  menace  greater  even 
than  war  to  Democracy  here  in  our  own  country.  In 
politics,  in  business,  and  in  the  industries,  these  vast 
combinations  of  wealth  have  become  overpowering  and 
wellnigh  irresistible.  Their  influence  is  not  confined 
to  business  or  politics;  it  extends,  to  an  alarming  ex- 
tent, to  legislation  and  the  affairs  of  government.  They 
have  served  to  establish  in  this  democratic  country 
where, — theoretically  and  as  matter  of  law, — all  men 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

are  equal,  a  dangerous  aristocracy  founded  on  the 
possession  of  large  wealth  and  without  regard  to  merit, 
greater  wisdom,  hereditary  right,  or  better  qualities 
of  mind.  They  have  divided  the  people  into  classes 
with  antagonistic  objects,  purposes,  and  interests. 

As  a  result  of  Big  Business  we  have  a  division  of  the 
people  into  laborers  or  working-people  and  employers, 
come  to  be  called  the  "capitalist  class."  These  forces, 
which  should  be  working  in  friendship  and  unity  for 
their  common  welfare  and  the  common  good,  have  or- 
ganized and  are  contending  one  against  the  other  for 
the  advancement  of  their  individual  selfish  interests. 
This  has  come  about  by  the  exercise  by  the  employer 
class,  united  in  interest,  of  arbitrary  power,  their 
oppressive  and  unjust  methods,  and  their  immense  in- 
crease of  wealth  as  the  result  of  the  daily  and  in- 
cessant toil  of  wage-earners  for  long  hours  under 
deplorable  conditions  and  for  poor  pay. 

In  self-defense  against  unjust  treatment,  and  for 
the  protection  of  their  rights,  the  workers  have  com- 
bined to  resist  the  capitalistic  forces.  So  we  now 
have  combined  forces  of  wealth  against  organized 
labor.  This,  of  course,  is  undemocratic,  destroys  the 
condition  of  equality  upon  which  our  free  institutions 
rest,  and  may  result  in  revolution  and  anarchy.  We 
need  not  stop  to  inquire  who  is  most  to  blame  for 
this  breach  of  constitutional  Democracy.  It  is  enough 
for  present  purposes  to  know  that  these  unfortunate 
conditions  exist  and  that  they  must  be  changed,  if 
Democracy,  in  the  true  sense,  is  to  be  maintained  in 
this  country. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  169 

De  Tocqueville  foresaw  this  danger  when  investi- 
gating conditions  here,  in  the  early  history  of  the 
country,  and  warned  against  it.  He  says : 

I  am  of  opinion,  upon  the  whole,  that  the  manufactur- 
ing aristocracy  which  is  growing  up  under  our  eyes 
is  one  of  the  harshest  which  ever  existed  in  the  world; 
but  at  the  same  time  it  is  one  of  the  most  confined  and 
least  dangerous.  Nevertheless  the  friends  of  democracy 
should  keep  their  eyes  anxiously  fixed  in  this  direction; 
for  if  ever  a  permanent  inequality  of  conditions  and 
aristocracy  again  penetrate  into  the  world,  it  may  be  pre- 
dicted that  this  is  the  channel  by  which  they  will  enter. 

Things  have  gone  so  far  in  this  conflict  between 
Capital  and  Labor  that  a  complete  industrial  rev- 
olution is  imminent.  The  Independent  Workers  of 
the  World,  an  organization  of  the  wage-earning  class, 
and  many  other  working-people,  and  those  who  are 
in  sympathy  with  them,  are  demanding  what  they  call 
"industrial  Democracy/'  or  equality  in  the  manage- 
ment and  control  of  business  and  an  equal  division  of 
profits  as  between  Capital  and  Labor.  They  contend, 
and  not  without  reason,  that  Labor  should  receive 
with  Capital  an  equal  share  of  the  profits  and  wealth 
it  produces  by  its  toil.  This  involves  more  than  the 
question  of  fair  and  just  treatment  of  Labor  by  Capi- 
tal, which  hitherto  has  been  the  principal  ground  of 
controversy.  It  has  become  the  more  important  and 
far-reaching  question  of  supremacy,  of  control  of  busi- 
ness and  industry. 

So  serious  has  this  situation  become  that  the  capital- 


170  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

ists,  whose  power  up  to  this  time  has  been  supreme, 
are  beginning  to  take  notice  of  these  advanced  claims 
of  Labor,  and  to  appreciate  the  danger  that  confronts 
them  as  a  class.  It  is  reported,  and  is  probably  true, 
that  Charles  M.  Schwab,  the  head  of  one  of  the  most 
wealthy  and  the  most  powerful  industrial  corpora- 
tions in  the  world,  at  a  banquet  of  the  alumni  of  a  pub- 
lic school  in  New  York,  made  this  rather  startling 
statement : 

The  time  is  coming  when  the  men  of  the  working 
classes,  the  men  without  property,  will  control  the 
destinies  of  this  world  of  ours.  It  means  that  the  Bolshe- 
vik sentiment  must  be  taken  into  consideration  and  in  the 
very  near  future.  We  must  look  to  the  worker  for  a 
solution  of  the  economic  conditions  now  being  considered. 

We  may  well  hope  that  Mr.  Schwab  is  mistaken  in 
this  extreme  view  of  what  is  threatening  us  for  the  fu- 
ture. That  the  capitalistic  class  shall  rule  the  country 
is  violative  of  the  very  foundation  principle  of  Dem- 
ocracy. It  would  be  none  the  less  so  if  the  working 
class  should  seize  and  appropriate  to  itself  such  con- 
trol. It  is  vitally  necessary  to  the  perpetuity  of  our 
free  and  democratic  institutions  that  no  class  of  citi- 
zens, however  worthy  that  class  may  be,  shall  dom- 
inate the  affairs  of  the  nation  or  control  its  business, 
or  its  industries,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  classes. 

By  some  this  expected  revolution  is  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  results  of  the  war.  It  is  said  that  "nations 
and  states  will  come  under  control  neither  of  king 
nor  president  but  of  the  man  with  the  hoe,  as  a 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  171 

result  of  the  world  war."  But  there  is  little  to  sustain 
this  view,  so  far  as  it  affects  this  country.  This  con- 
flict between  Capital  and  Labor,  each  seeking  to  se- 
cure and  maintain  the  control  of  affairs,  was  on  long 
before  the  war  commenced.  The  outcome  may  be 
hastened,  the  working  class  may  be  more  aggressive  as 
a  result  of  the  war,  and  the  action  of  the  working 
classes  in  other  countries,  particularly  in  Russia,  may 
urge  them  on ;  but  the  fight  for  control,  independently 
of  the  war,  could  not  go  on  forever.  An  industrial 
revolution  sooner  or  later  has  been  looked  upon  by 
thoughtful  and  observing  people  as  almost,  if  not  quite, 
a  certainty. 

The  shifting  of  power  and  control  from  the  capital- 
istic to  the  working  class,  if  we  must  have  class  con- 
trol and  domination,  is  not  so  important  as  is  the  ques- 
tion how  are  the  working  people,  when  they  come  into 
power,  going  to  use  that  power.  If  they  are  going 
to  dominate  with  autocratic  power;  if  they  are  going 
to  use  the  power  they  have  gained  for  their  own  selfish 
ends,  without  regard  to  the  just  rights  of  others  and 
without  due  regard  for  the  public  interests  and  the 
general  welfare,  nothing  will  have  been  gained  by  the 
change.  This  has  been  the  great  vice  of  capitalistic 
control.  It  has  been  arbitrary,  unjust,  and  without 
regard  to  the  rights  and  interest  of  others.  It  is  this 
very  attitude  of  Capital  towards  other  interests  that 
has  brought  on  the  conflict;  and  if  power  and  control 
are  wrested  from  them,  it  must  be  attributed  to  their 
own  selfish  abuse  of  their  power. 


172  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

D.    CLASS    DISTINCTIONS.       AUTOCRACY    OF    WEALTH 

ANOTHER  of  the  serious  dangers  to  Democracy  in 
this  country  is  the  growing  separation  of  the  people 
into  different  classes.  This  has  already  been  adverted 
to  in  treating  of  the  relations  of  Capital  and  Labor\ 
This  danger  has  become  more  apparent  and  more  im- 
minent as  business  on  a  large  scale  has  increased  and 
men  and  corporations  have  become  richer  and  more 
powerful.  The  tendency  of  this  has  been  to  subordi- 
nate labor  and  laboring  men  and  women  to  the  will 
and  domination  of  these  great  selfish  interests  and 
degrade  them  to  a  lower  class  to  themselves.  This, 
again,  has  created  a  spirit  of  discontent,  which  has 
grown  as  the  cause  of  that  discontent  has  increased; 
and  strikes  and  lockouts,  oppression,  violence,  de- 
struction of  property  and  of  life,  have  followed.  It 
destroys  the  "equality  of  conditions"  that  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  true  Democracy  and  without  which  it 
cannot  exist. 

One  of  the  most  vicious  features  of  this  evil  is  that 
men  are  measured  and  classified,  not  according  to  the 
standing  and  merits  as  men  or  citizens,  but  by  the 
amount  of  money  they  possess  or  can  make.  This 
process  of  separation  has  developed  another  class  of 
the  most  objectionable  and  demoralizing  kind.  The 
accumulation  of  inordinate  wealth  has  given  us  a  class 
of  people  that  has  no  place  in  a  government  like  ours, 
namely,  the  idle  and  profligate  rich.  They  are  leeches 
on  society,  a  useless  incumbrance,  and  an  evil  example 
that  leads  to  idleness,  profligacy,  and  crime  on  the  part 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  173 

of  others  besides  themselves.  To  live  in  idleness  is 
not  only  degenerating  in  its  effects  upon  the  man  who 
does  not  work  but  it  leads  others  to  the  same  useless 
way  of  living,  that  which  permeates  the  community 
as  a  whole  and  lowers  its  standard.  Men  and  women 
of  great  wealth  are  setting  an  example  that,  if  fol- 
lowed, will  inevitably  lead  to  disaster.  They  are  lead- 
ing the  way  to  the  degeneracy  of  their  own  class,  by 
their  mode  of  living,  and  the  degradation  of  what 
they  are  pleased  to  call  "their  servants,"  whom  they 
treat  as  belonging  to  an  inferior  class  only  fit  to  serve 
them. 

Conditions  in  this  respect  have  been  steadily  growing 
worse  as  time  goes  on.  The  rich  are  growing  richer 
and  the  poor  poorer  as  the  country  grows  richer  and 
more  powerful  and  the  division  of  the  people  into 
classes  becomes  more  marked  and  more  hurtful  to  the 
public  interests;  the  rich  becoming  more  arrogant  and 
offensive  to  those  who  are  foolish  enough  to  look  up 
to  them  as  superior  beings,  only  because  of  their  of- 
fensive display  of  wealth.  This  may  be  one  of  the 
evils  now  threatening  Democracy  that  will  be  de- 
stroyed by  the  war. 

War  is  a  great  leveler  of  society.  Enforced  service 
in  the  army  by  conscription  and  without  regard  to 
social  or  business  standing, — a  law  that  if  impartially 
enforced  will  bring  to  the  colors  rich  and  poor  alike, — 
will  put  all  men  on  an  equality  in  the  army  as  they 
should  be  in  society,  in  business,  and  in  government. 
To  what  extent  this  is  going  to  restore  the  country 
to  its  former  condition  of  equality  of  conditions  no 


174  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

one  can  tell.  That  our  war  experience  is  going  to 
bring  the  whole  people  nearer  to  that  equality  so  nec- 
essary to  the  maintenance  and  perpetuity  of  democratic 
principles,  while  the  war  lasts,  can  hardly  be  doubted. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  war,  with  its  opportunities  of 
gain,  has  added  immensely  to  the  wealth  of  the  already 
rich,  and  has  increased  the  number  of  their  class  enor- 
mously, while  it  has  made  the  lot  of  the  poor  even 
worse  than  before.  Their  wages,  it  is  true,  have  in 
many  instances  been  increased,  but  not  sufficiently  to 
meet  the  increased  cost  of  living  resulting  from  the 
same  cause.  The  consequence  has  been  greater  unrest 
and  discontent  among  the  working  classes.  The  labor- 
ing class,  as  as  a  rule,  are  loyal  to  the  Government 
and  have  been  bearing  these  additional  burdens  with 
commendable  patience  and  fortitude.  This  has  re- 
sulted, in  great  part,  from  their  patriotic  desire  to 
help  their  country  in  time  of  war;  but,  notwithstand- 
ing this  check,  strikes  have  occurred,  the  greatest  pre- 
cautions have  been  necessary  to  prevent  these  outbreaks 
from  becoming  serious,  and  many  concessions  have 
been  forced  upon  the  Government  and  upon  private 
employers  to  suppress  these  evidences  of  discontent. 
When  the  war  is  over,  the  laboring  people  will  un- 
doubtedly demand  better  pay,  more  humane  treatment, 
and  a  greater  share  in  the  control  of  the  Government, 
of  business,  and  industry.  This  seems  inevitable.  It 
is  a  demand  that  the  country  should  be  prepared  to 
meet,  justly  and  fairly  and  in  a  spirit  of  tolerance 
that  will  insure  a  peaceful  settlement  of  the  problem. 
The  trials  and  tribulations  of  the  war,  the  sacrifices, 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  175 

privations,  and  sorrows  borne  by  all  classes  in  a 
common  effort  to  win  the  war,  should  bring  the  people 
closer  together  in  a  unity  of  effort  when  peace  comes 
to  remove  and  stamp  out  class  distinctions  and  make 
this  great  free  Republic  a  real  Democracy  and  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States  the  true  expression  of  the  real  senti- 
ments of  the  American  people. 

E.    FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH  AND  OF  THE  PRESS  NECESSARY 
TO   THE   PERPETUATION   OF  DEMOCRACY 

THE  Constitution  of  the  United  States  provides : 

Congress  shall  make  no  law  .  .  .  abridging  the 
freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  Press  or  the  right  of  the 
people  peaceably  to  assemble  and  to  petition  the  Govern- 
ment for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

The  right  to  express  one's  opinions,  whether  by  word 
of  mouth  or  in  print,  and  the  right  of  the  people  to 
assemble  peaceably  for  that  purpose  are  derived  neither 
from  this  provision  of  the  Constitution  nor  from  any 
other  law.  They  are  rights  inherent  in  every  citizen 
of  a  free  Republic.  The  purpose  and  object  of  the 
Constitution  is  to  prevent  Congress  from  taking  away, 
or  even  abridging,  those  rights.  To  suppress  free 
speech,  or  freedom  of  the  press,  is  to  deprive  the 
citizen  of  a  valuable  part  of  his  liberties;  is  a  viola- 
tion of  the  Constitution  if  done  by  Congress,  and  an 
invasion  of  the  inherent  right  of  the  citizen  if  done 
by  any  one  else.  Not  only  so,  but  it  is  a  direct 
attack  upon  the  very  principles  of  Democracy  and 


176  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

freedom,  and  will,  if  persisted  in,  result  in  a  despo- 
tism. 

The  importance  of  protecting  these  rights  is  much 
greater,  and  the  reason  for  it  more  imperative,  in 
time  of  war, — or  in  other  times  of  stress  or  excite- 
ment tending  towards  oppression  or  intolerance, — than 
in  ordinary  times.  When  the  public  mind  is  excited 
over  great  issues  affecting  the  common  interests,  and 
the  majority  has  taken  sides,  the  minority  is  likely, 
almost  certain,  to  be  deprived  of  its  right  to  defend 
its  views,  however  conscientiously  entertained.  It  is 
in  such  times  that  intolerance,  the  foe  of  Democracy 
and  freedom,  stalks  abroad,  and  the  mob  does  its  ne- 
farious work.  Public  officials  become  arbitrary,  over- 
zealous,  and  offensive.  They  snap  their  fingers  at  the 
Constitution,  declare  it  is  suspended  in  time  of  war, 
and  care  nothing  for  the  rights  or  opinions  of  others 
if  they  do  not  agree  with  their  own. 

This  evil  of  intolerance,  arbitrary  rule,  and  mob 
violence  has  been  the  betrayer  of  human  rights;  the 
enemy  of  liberty  and  justice,  and  has  cost  the  lives 
of  thousands  of  conscientious,  patriotic,  and  liberty- 
loving  men  and  women.  It  was  one  of  the  most  sacred 
objects  in  the  formation  of  our  Government  to  protect 
the  liberties  of  the  people  from  this  .dangerous  foe.  So 
jealous  were  the  people  and  the  framers  of  the  Consti- 
tution of  these  inherent  rights  of  the  people,  that  they 
inserted  the  provision  quoted  above  in  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  Republic,  forbidding  even  the  Congress  of 
the  United  States, — the  supreme  law-making  power,— 
to  so  much  as  abridge  these  sacred  rights. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  177 

De  Tocqueville  says  of  this  right,  and  the  necessity 
of  protecting  it  in  a  government  of  the  people : 

But  in  the  countries  in  which  the  doctrine  of  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  ostensibly  prevails,  the  censor- 
ship of  the  press  is  not  only  dangerous,  but  it  is  absurd. 
When  the  right  of  every  citizen  to  cooperate  in  the 
government  of  society  is  acknowledged,  every  citizen 
must  be  presumed  to  possess  the  power  of  discriminating 
between  the  different  opinions  of  his  contemporaries,  and 
of  appreciating  the  different  facts  from  which  inferences 
may  be  drawn.  The  sovereignty  of  the  people  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press  may  therefore  be  looked  upon  as 
correlative  institutions;  just  as  the  censorship  of  the 
press  and  universal  suffrage  are  two  things  which  are  ir- 
reconcilably opposed,  and  which  cannot  long  be  retained 
among  the  institutions  of  the  same  people.  Not  a  single 
individual  of  the  twelve  millions  who  inhabit  the  terri- 
tory of  the  United  States  has  as  yet  dared  to  propose 
any  restrictions  to  the  liberty  of  the  press. 

It  must  be  obvious  to  every  thinking  man  that  to 
interfere,  materially,  with  these  rights  is  absolutely  to 
destroy  Democracy.  That  these  rights  have  been  de- 
nied to  the  people,  that  the  right  of  free  speech  and 
freedom  of  the  press  has  practically  been  suspended 
during  this  time  of  war  no  one  can  deny.  Peace- 
able assemblies  convened  to  discuss  public  questions 
have  been  prevented  by  the  officers  of  the  law.  That 
such  meetings  have  been  broken  up  and  those  assem- 
bled dispersed,  insulted,  and  maltreated;  that  men  of 
honest  and  conscientious  convictions  have  been  made 
the  victims  of  mob  violence  for  expressing  those  con- 


178  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

victions;  that  it  has  come  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
crime  for  which  American  citizens  have  been  thrown 
into  prison  to  criticise  the  conduct  of  officers,  their 
own  representatives  and  agents,  and  indignities  of 
various  kinds  have  been  inflicted  upon  citizens  for 
expressing  their  opinions,  is  well  known.  It  is  equally 
well  known  that  these  violations  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  the  people  have  gone  unpunished  and 
unnoticed  by  their  Government  whose  duty  it  is  to 
protect  them  in  those  rights.  This  is  a  condition  that 
should  attract  the  attention  and  excite  the  apprehen- 
sions of  all  loyal  American  citizens. 

We  must  distinguish  here  between  liberty  of  speech 
and  license  to  utter  forbidden  or  treasonable  senti- 
ments, and  between  punishment  by  due  process  of 
law  and  persecution  by  mob,  or  other  violent  or  un- 
lawful means.  If  the  Government  is  to  be  preserved, 
it  must  be  protected  from  seditious  or  treasonable  ut- 
terances of  its  citizens,  or  others,  during  a  time  of 
war;  but  the  preservation  of  the  Government  and  the 
liberties  of  the  citizen  demand  that  the  question  of 
the  character  of  the  utterance,  whether  lawful  or 
unlawful,  shall  be  determined  by  the  courts  acting 
in  compliance  with  the  law,  not  by  unofficial  and  un- 
authorized private  individuals  or  public  officials,  and 
that  punishment  shall  only  follow  conviction  under 
judicial  process  and  authority  and  not  because  some 
officer  or  individual  thinks  the  law  has  been  violated 
and  assumes  to  take  the  law  into  his  own  hands.  No 
crime  more  dangerous  to  Democracy  and  liberty  than 
this  could  well  be  conceived  of  or  committed. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  179 

The  right  of  free  speech  in  a  government  of  and 
by  the  people  cannot  be  overestimated.  It  lies  at  the 
very  foundation  of  intelligent  action  and  government. 
Without  free  expression  of  opinion  and  open  discus- 
sion, profound  ignorance  must  prevail.  Without  a 
full  knowledge  of  the  facts,  intelligent  action  on  any 
public  question  cannot  be  expected.  To  deny  the  right 
is  to  destroy  liberty  and  independence.  Without  it, 
Democracy  is  a  mockery  and  free  government  a  delu- 
sion: 

The  President  of  the  United  States,  Woodrow  Wil- 
son, says  of  it: 

If  there  is  one  thing  that  we  love  more  deeply  than 
another  in  the  United  States  it  is  that  every  one  should     / 
have  the  privilege  UNMOLESTED  and  uncriticised  to 
utter  the  real  convictions  of  his  mind. 

Again  he  says : 

We  have  seen  a  good  many  singular  things  happen 
recently.  We  have  been  told  that  it  is  unpatriotic  to 
criticise  public  action.  Well,  if  it  is,  then  there  is  a  deep 
disgrace  resting  on  the  origin  of  this  nation.  This  na- 
tion originated  in  the  sharpest  sort  of  criticism  of  public 
policy.  We  originated,  to  put  it  in  the  vernacular,  in 
a  kick;  and  if  it  be  unpatriotic  to  kick,  why,  then  the 
grown  son  is  unlike  the  child.  We  have  forgotten  the 
very  principle  of  our  origin  if  we  have  forgotten  how  to 
object,  how  to  resist,  how  to  agitate,  how  to  pull  down 
and  build  up,  even  to  the  extent  of  revolutionary 
practices  if  it  be  necessary  to  readjust  matters.  I  have 
forgotten  my  history  if  that  be  not  true  history. 


i8o  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

And  Daniel  Webster,  the  great  lawyer  and  states- 
man, says: 

It  is  a  right  to  be  maintained  in  peace  and  in  war.  It 
is  a  right  that  cannot  be  invaded  without  destroying 
constitutional  liberty.  Hence  this  right  should  be  guarded 
and  protected  by  the  free  men  of  this  country  with 
zealous  care  unless  they  are  prepared  for  chains  and 
anarchy. 

And  again,  he  says  in  closing  one  of  his  great  speech- 
es in  the  United  States  Senate: 

We  may  be  tossed  upon  an  ocean  where  we  can  see  no 
land — nor  perhaps  the  sun  or  stars.  But  there  is  a 
chart  and  a  compass  for  us  to  study,  to  consult  and  to 
obey.  That  chart  is  the  Constitution  of  the  country. 
That  compass  is  an  honest  single  eyed  purpose  to  pre- 
serve the  institutions  and  the  liberty  with  which  God  has 
blessed  us. 

Franklin  H.  Giddings,  a  distinguished  educator  and 
writer  on  sociology  and  Democracy,  has  this  to  say : 

Our  government  is  based  on  the  agreement,  both  tacit 
and  implied,  that  the  minority  shall  always  have  the 
rights  of  free  speech,  free  press,  and  of  free  agitation, 
in  order  to  convert  itself,  if  possible,  from  a  minority 
into  a  majority.  As  soon  as  these  rights  of  the  minority 
are  denied,  it  will  inevitably  resort  to  secret  meetings, 
conspiracies,  and,  finally,  force.  In  times  of  stress  it  may 
be  extremely  embarrassing  for  the  majority  to  be  ham- 
pered in  quick  decisive  action  by  an  obstinate  minority; 
but  nevertheless,  the  recognition  of  the  right  of  the 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  181 

minority  is  our  sole  bond  of  unity.  For  this  reason,  I 
repeat  that  any  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  rights  of 
free  speech  and  free  press  is  a  blow  at  the  very  founda- 
tion of  government. 

Elijah  Parrish  Love  joy,  distinguished  alike  for  his 
learning,  his  humanitarianism,  and  his  sturdy,  inde- 
pendent patriotism,  declared  his  belief  in  the  right 
of  free  speech,  in  these  stirring  words: 

If  the  laws  of  my  country  fail  to  protect  me,  I  appeal 
to  God,  and  with  him  I  cheerfully  rest  my  cause.  I 
can  die  at  my  post,  but  I  cannot  desert  it.  ...  As  long 
as  I  am  an  American  and  as  long  as  American  blood 
runs  in  these  veins  I  shall  hold  myself  at  liberty  to  speak, 
to  write,  to  publish,  whatever  I  please  on  any  subject — 
being  amenable  to  the  laws  of  my  country  for  the  same. 

Lovejoy  paid  the  extreme  penalty  for  his  independ- 
ence. Three  times  his  printing-press  was  destroyed 
by  mobs  because  he  advocated  the  freedom  of  the 
slaves  and  denounced  human  slavery,  and  finally  he 
was  shot  down  while  defending  his  right  of  freedom 
to  use  his  own  printing  press. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison,  another  defender  of  hu- 
man liberty,  was  dragged  through  the  streets  of  Bos- 
ton by  a  mob,  and  maltreated  for  his  opposition  to 
human  slavery,  in  which  city  a  bronze  statue  has 
since  been  erected  to  his  memory. 

These  men  persisted  in  exercising  their  right  of 
free  speech,  for  which  they  were  persecuted  and  re- 
viled, and  one  of  them  assassinated;  and  who  is  there 


182  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

now  to  say  that  they  were  not  right?  The  minority 
of  to-day  may  become  the  majority  of  to-morrow,  if 
the  right  of  free  speech  and  freedom  of  opinion,  guar- 
anteed by  the  Constitution,  is  protected.  If  the  ma- 
jority is  right,  free  discussion  can  do  it  no  harm; 
but  the  forcible  suppression  of  the  minority,  aside 
from  its  wrongful  character,  is  likely  to  do  incalcu- 
lable harm  to  our  free  institutions  and  destroy  the 
principles  of  Democracy  in  the  defense  of  which  the 
nation  is  pouring  out  its  blood  and  treasure.  The 
President  of  the  United  States  has  very  well  said : 

Common  counsel  is  not  aggregate  counsel.  It  is  not  a 
sum  in  addition  counting  heads.  It  is  compounded  out 
of  many  views  in  actual  contact ;  is  a  living  thing  made 
out  of  the  vital  substance  of  many  minds,  many  per- 
sonalities, many  experiences ;  and  it  can  be  made  up  only 
by  vital  contacts,  of  actual  conference,  only  in  face  to 
face  debate,  only  by  word  of  mouth  and  the  direct 
clash  of  mind  with  mind.  .  .  .  Open  counsel  is  of  the 
essence  of  power  if  the  country's  confidence  is  to  be 
retained  for  any  length  of  time. 

The  situation  is  made  much  worse  in  these  times 
when  men's  minds  are  inflamed  by  the  passions  of 
war,  by  the  inaction,  even  encouragement,  given  the 
lawless  people  who  have  been  suppressing  free  speech 
by  violence  and  intimidation,  by  public  officials  act- 
ing, themselves,  without  warrant  or  other  authority. 
Homes  are  entered  and  searched;  men  and  women 
seized  and  imprisoned,  whipped,  and  maltreated  and 
heaped  with  indignities,  all  for  the  unlawful  purpose 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  183 

of  suppressing  free  speech  in  a  free  Republic  that  is 
shedding  the  blood  of  its  sons  and  pouring  out  bil- 
lions of  dollars  to  preserve  and  extend  the  principles 
of  Democracy.  Even  the  courts,  in  some  melancholy 
instances,  have  fallen  under  the  spell  of  intolerance 
and  savagery,  and  have  imposed  cruel  and  excessive 
punishment  for  trivial  offenses, — if  offenses  at  all. 

The  excuse  for  all  this  is  that  we  are  at  war,  and 
the  constitutionally  protected  right  of  free  speech  no 
longer  exists.  But  this  furnishes  no  excuse  for  these 
depredations.  In  time  of  war  the  lawfully  consti- 
tuted authorities  should  be  watchful  and  vigilant  in 
protecting  the  country  against  seditious  utterances  and 
anything  like  giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy; 
and  any  one  violating  his  duty  to  his  country  by 
such  utterances  should  be  promptly  and  adequately 
punished.  But  this  power  of  punishment  cannot, 
without  violating  the  most  sacred  rights  of  the  citi- 
zen and  being  guilty  of  a  plain  violation  of  the  Con- 
stitution, be  intrusted  to  a  mob,  or  private  individuals, 
or  unauthorized  public  officials. 

President  Wilson  has  said : 

The  theory  of  our  law  is  that  an  officer  is  an  officer 
only  so  long  as  he  acts  within  his  powers ;  that  when  he 
transcends  his  authority  he  ceases  to  be  an  officer  and 
is  only  a  private  individual,  subject  to  be  sued  and  pun- 
ished for  his  offense.  In  England  as  in  America  an 
officer  of  the  law  ceases  to  be  an  officer  of  the  law  when 
he  acts  in  excess  of  his  authority.  He  may  be  fined  and 
imprisoned  or  executed  as  any  other  man  would  be  if 
he  oversteps  the  limits  of  his  warrant  and  authority  and 


1 84  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

does  things  that  he  has  no  right  to  do.  He  has  no 
authority  but  that  which  is  legal  and  for  which  he  can 
show  rightful  authority. 

The  Constitution  is  not  suspended  by  a  condition 
of  war,  unless  martial  law  is  declared.  The  authority 
of  an  officer  of  the  law  is  the  same  in  time  of  war  as 
in  time  of  peace.  The  citizen  is  entitled  to  the  pro- 
tection of  the  Constitution  in  time  of  war  precisely 
the  same  as  in  time  of  peace.  Indeed,  he  needs  that 
protection  far  more  when  passions  run  high  and  in- 
tolerance reigns  because  we  are  at  war. 

In  the  celebrated  Milligan  Case,  so  often  cited  and 
commented  upon,  where  Milligan  was  tried  by  a  mili- 
tary tribunal,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  be  shot,  the 
Supreme  Court  declared  the  proceeding  void  and  re- 
leased the  prisoner  on  the  ground  that,  as  martial  law 
was  not  in  force  in  Indiana,  where  he  was  tried,  al- 
though the  country  was  at  war,  he  could  only  be  tried 
in  the  civil  courts.  In  its  opinion  the  court  said : 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  is  a  law  for 
rulers  and  peoples  equally  in  war  and  in  peace  and 
covers  with  the  shield  of  its  protection  all  classes  of 
men  at  all  times  and  under  all  circumstances. 

But  why  multiply  opinions  as  to  the  value  of  liberty, 
the  sacredness  of  this  right  of  free  speech,  and  the 
solemn  duty  resting  upon  all  of  us,  as  citizens  of  a 
country  of  freemen,  to  guard,  protect,  and  preserve 
it.  What  intelligent  American  citizen  does  not  know 
all  this?  Is  there  a  citizen  of  this  free  Republic  who 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  185 

does  not  know  that  when  he  trespasses  upon  this 
right  by  violence,  intimidation,  or  otherwise,  without 
warrant,  he  is  trampling  underfoot  one  of  the  most 
sacred  rights  of  a  fellow-citizen  and  violating  the  pro- 
visions of  the  Constitution  intended  to  protect  liberty 
and  Democracy  ? 

What  has  been  said  so  far  relates  to  the  right  of 
free  speech.  The  freedom  of  the  press,  the  right  to 
print  one's  views,  is  alike  protected  by  the  Constitution 
and  for  the  same  reasons.  They  stand  upon  an  equal 
footing.  Some  people,  especially  the  publishers  of 
newspapers,  seem  to  think  that  the  press  is  entitled 
to  greater  consideration  and  a  higher  degree  of  pro- 
tection than  the  individual.  What  one  may  publish 
through  the  press  he  may  just  as  freely  speak  by  word 
of  mouth;  his  right  to  protection  being  the  same  in 
either  case. 

It  is  a  singular  fact,  and  one  that  convicts  the 
press  of  inconsistency  and  injustice,  that,  while  claim- 
ing the  freedom  of  the  press,  the  newspapers  and  other 
publications  have  done  more  by  false  publications  and 
intimidation  to  suppress  free  speech  by  others  than 
any  one  else  and  only  in  a  very  few  instances  have 
any  of  these  publications  denounced  the  suppression 
of  free  speech  by  mobs  or  defended  this  constitutional 
right  that  they  claim  for  themselves.  But  the  people 
have  long  since  ceased  to  expect  consistency,  justice, 
or  fair  dealing  from  the  public  press.  Most  of  the 
publications  of  this  time  are  either  owned,  controlled 
or  subsidized  by  the  great  moneyed  interests,  and  do 
the  bidding  of  their  owner.  They  are  no  longer  the 


i86  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

defenders  of  the  liberty  of  the  people  and  justice  to 
them;  they  defend  the  special  interests.  The  people 
place  no  reliance  upon  these  papers,  but  when  they 
combine  in  the  effort  to  control  public  opinion  and,  in 
order  to  do  so,  falsify  the  facts  and  suppress  the 
truth,  as  they  habitually  do,  they  wield  a  power  for 
evil  greater  than  confiding  and  uninformed  people  re- 
alize. And  one  of  the  worst  phases  of  this  situation  is 
that  most  people  are  afraid  of  the  newspapers.  A 
fair  degree  of  independence  on  the  part  of  newspaper 
readers  would  compel  such  publications  to  be  decent 
and  more  reliable  than  they  are  now.  It  is  one  of 
the  things  most  needed  to  preserve  the  liberties  of  the 
people. 

The  extent  to  which  the  public  journals  are  being 
subsidized  by  the  moneyed  interests  was  graphically 
disclosed  by  Hon.  Oscar  Callaway  of  Texas,  in  the 
House  of  Representatives,  in  a  speech  delivered  by 
him  on  the  9th  day  of  February,  1917.  Among  other 
things  he  said: 

In  March  1915  the  -  -  interests,  the  steel,  ship 

building  interests,  and  their  subsidiary  organizations  got 
together  twelve  men  high  up  in  the  newspaper  world 
and  employed  them  to  select  the  most  influential  news- 
papers in  the  United  States  and  a  sufficient  number  of 
them  to  control,  generally,  the  policy  of  the  daily  press 
of  the  United  States.  These  twelve  men  worked  the 
problem  out  by  selecting  179  newspapers,  and  then  be- 
gan by  an  elimination  process  to  retain  only  those  neces- 
sary for  the  purpose  of  controlling  the  general  policy 
of  the  daily  press  throughout  the  country.  They  found 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  187 

it  was  only  necessary  to  purchase  the  control  of  25  of 
the  greatest  papers. 

And  he  declared  "this  control  is  in  existence  at  the 
present  time." 

This  statement,  made  in  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  by  a  representative  of  the  people,  acting  under 
oath,  is  a  startling  revelation  that  should  arouse  the 
patriotic  indignation  of  the  whole  country.  It  dis- 
closes a  dangerous,  liberty-destroying,  and  powerful 
oligarchy,  operating  secretly  through  the  public  press. 
\Vhat  chance  have  the  common  people  against  such  a 
stupendous  and  unprincipled  combination  of  wealth ! 

So  far  as  the  author  knows,  this  statement,  thus 
publicly  made,  has  never  been  denied.  It  was  only 
necessary  to  bring  a  comparatively  few  of  the  public 
journals  under  this  control.  They  were  doubtless 
leaders  of  newspaper  sentiment  and  influence  through- 
out the  country ;  and  combined  with  other  newspapers, 
owned  by  the  moneyed  interests  and  which  it  was  un- 
necessary to  buy,  they  could  lead  public  sentiment  in 
any  direction  their  purchasers  and  owners  desired. 
They  would,  under  their  contract,  publish  what  their 
owners  wanted  published,  and  suppress  what  they  did 
not  want.  That  this  has  been  done,  systematically, 
by  the  public  journals  is  well  known. 

It  is  this  deplorable  attitude  of  the  newspapers,  and 
other  subsidized  and  unreliable  publications,  that  has 
done  much  to  destroy  the  patriotic  sentiments  of  the 
people  in  favor  of  a  free  press.  But,  notwithstanding 


1 88  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

this  gross  abuse  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  it  is  vital 
to  liberty  and  justice  that  the  right  be  protected  and 
preserved.  The  remedy  is  to  punish  the  abuse  of  the 
right  and  put  an  end  to  it  by  ceasing  to  patronize  a 
newspaper  that  falsifies  the  facts  or  purposely  sup- 
presses the  truth. 

It  can  not  be  denied  that  this  kind  of  journalism 
is  dangerous  to  liberty.  It  is  journalism  for  the  rich, 
and  against  the  poor.  It  is  doing  more  than  any  other 
one  thing  to  build  up  and  maintain  in  this  free  Repub- 
lic an  aristocracy,  an  oligarchy  of  wealth,  backed  by 
sordid  self-interest. 

What  the  Constitution  is  intended  to  protect  is  the 
right  to  speak  and  print  the  truth,  not  to  falsify  or 
deceive  or  mislead.  In  this  spirit,  the  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  must  be  upheld  if  democratic 
principles  are  to  survive  in  this  country. 

F.    DANGER    OF    UNLIMITED    POWER    IN    THE    MAJORITY 

AKIN  to  the  suppression  of  free  speech  is  the  danger 
of  unlimited  power  in  the  majority  in  a  country  where 
the  people  rule,  'f  he  same  spirit  oi  intolerance  that 
denies  the  right  of  free  speech  and  free  press  makes 
the  majority  intolerant  and  arbitrary,  denying  to  the 
minority  the  privileges  of  discussion  and  freedom  of 
action  that  is  accorded  them  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, not  controlled  by  passion. 

Again  referring  to  the  unbiased  and  disinterested 
testimony  of  de  Tocqueville  in  his  "Democracy  in 
America,"  we  find  this: 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  189 

It  is  important  not  to  confound  stability  with  force, 
or  the  greatness  of  a  thing  with  its  duration.  In  demo- 
cratic republics,  the  power  which  directs  society  is  not 
stable;  for  it  often  changes  hands  and  assumes  a  new 
direction.  But  whichever  way  it  turns,  its  force  is  al- 
most irresistible.  The  Governments  of  the  American 
republics  appear  to  me  to  be  as  much  centralized  as  those 
of  the  absolute  monarchies  of  Europe,  and  more  energetic 
than  they  are.  I  do  not,  therefore,  imagine  that  they 
will  perish  from  weakness. 

//  ever  the  free  institutions  of  America  are  destroyed, 
that  event  may  be  attributed  to  the  unlimited  authority 
of  the  majority,  which  may  at  some  future  time  urge 
the  minorities  to  desperation,  and  oblige  them  to  have 
recourse  to  physical  force.  Anarchy  will  then  be  the  re- 
sult, but  it  will  have  been  brought  about  by  despotism. 

In  a  country  whose  people  are  less  conservative  and 
less  loyal  to  the  principles  of  their  government  than 
are  our  own,  arbitrary  and  oppressive  power  of  the 
majority  is  the  precursor  of  despotism  and  anarchy. 
With  us,  the  minority  will  bear  much,  suffer  much, 
before  resorting  to  force ;  for  which  we  may  be  thank- 
ful. But  the  exercise  of  autocratic  and  intolerant 
power  is  none  the  less  a  violation  of  the  foundation 
principles  of  our  Government,  dangerous  to  liberty, 
and  the  breeder  of  hate  and  the  spirit  of  retaliation  and 
revenge  that  may  be  visited  upon  the  present  major- 
ity when  it  shall  become,  in  its  turn,  the  minority  and 
subject  to  like  treatment. 

This  danger  of  retaliatory  methods,  or  the  resort  to 
secret  meetings,  conspiracies  against  the  majority,  and 


190  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

to  force,  is  accentuated  and  made  more  imminent 
when  the  minds  of  the  people  are  filled  with  the  pas- 
sion and  intolerance  excited  by  war.  The  very  senti- 
ments of  intolerance  that  actuate  the  conduct  of  the 
majority  will  influence  alike  the  course  of  the  minor- 
ity, whose  right  to  be  heard  and  to  act  in  accordance 
with  their  conscientious  convictions  is  violated. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitu- 
tion to  protect,  as  far  as  possible,  the  rights  of  the 
minority.  In  some  instances,  more  than  a  majority 
is  required  to  control  action,  sometimes  even  three- 
fourths.  But,  like  many  other  things  threatening  to 
liberty  and  Democracy,  action  cannot  be  controlled  or 
wrongs  prevented  by  law.  At  last  the  remedy  must 
rest  with  the  people.  The  wrong  is  in  itself  a  viola- 
tion of  law,  or  of  the  essential  principles  of  demo- 
cratic government.  Patriotic  self-restraint  and  a  due 
sense  of  right  and  justice  on  the  part  of  the  people 
for  the  time  composing  the  majority,  and  a  like  for- 
bearance on  the  part  of  the  minority,  is  the  only  rem- 
edy for  this  dangerous  evil. 

While  our  beloved  country  is  suffering  all  the  ago- 
lies  of  a  great,  cruel,  devastating  war,  a  spirit  of 
conciliation,  of  mutual  good-will  and  helpfulness, 
should  pervade  the  public  mind,  and  make  us  all  con- 
siderate of  the  rights,  the  sentiments,  and  the  pur- 
poses of  those  who  do  not  agree  with  us. 

With  rare  exceptions,  both  the  majority  and  the 
minority  are  loyal  to  their  country  and  are  standing 
for  what  they  believe  to  be  for  its  best  interests. 
Those  who  are  not  loyal,  those  who  are  guilty  of  sedi- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  191 

tious  or  disloyal  sentiments,  or  who  are  giving  aid 
and  comfort  to  the  enemy  in  this  time  of  great  stress, 
are  amenable  to  the  laws  of  the  country,  and  should 
be  punished  in  the  way  provided  by  law.  But  this 
does  not  justify,  nothing  can  justify,  resort  by  the  ma- 
jority to  autocratic  or  despotic  exercise  of  power  to 
control  or  suppress  the  minority. 

It  may  be  conceded  that  at  times  the  provocation 
is  great,  and  the  temptation  to  violate  our  principles 
of  government  by  taking  the  law  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  lawfully  constituted  authorities  and  putting  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  majority,  is  hard  to  resist.  The  men 
and  women  who  do  resist  this  temptation,  who  adhere 
to  the  laws  of  their  country  and  restrain  themselves 
from  the  exercise  of  force  or  other  unlawful  means  to 
coerce  or  restrain  action  by  others,  are  true  patriots, 
and  those  who  proclaim  their  patriotism  the  loudest 
and  endeavor  by  force  or  otherwise  to  coerce  others, 
to  deprive  them  of  the  rights  guaranteed  to  them  by 
the  Constitution,  are  dangerous  enemies  to  their  coun- 
try. 

In  his  "Defense  of  the  Constitution,"  Alexander 
Hamilton  had  this  to  say  on  this  subject  in  The  Fed- 
eralist: 

It  is  of  great  importance  in  a  republic,  not  only  to 
guard  the  society  against  the  oppression  of  its  rulers, 
but  to  guard  one  part  of  the  society  against  the  injustice 
of  the  other  part.  Different  interests  necessarily  exist 
in  different  classes  of  citizens.  If  a  majority  be  united 
by  a  common  interest,  the  rights  of  the  minority  will  be 
insecure.  There  are  but  two  methods  of  providing 


192  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

against  this  evil;  the  one  by  creating  a  will  in  the  com- 
munity independent  of  the  majority,  that  is,  of  the  so- 
ciety itself;  the  other  by  comprehending  in  the  society 
so  many  separate  descriptions  of  citizens  as  will  render 
an  unjust  combination  of  a  majority  of  the  whole  very 
improbable,  if  not  impracticable. 

The  last  remedy  for  the  oppression  of  one  part  of 
society  by  another  here  suggested,  namely,  the  "com- 
prehending in  the  society  so  many  separate  descrip- 
tions of  citizens  as  will  render  an  unjust  combina- 
tion of  a  majority  of  the  whole  very  improbable,  if 
not  impracticable,"  can  no  longer  be  relied  upon.  There 
is  not  that  diversity  of  citizenship  now  that  prevailed 
in  Hamilton's  time.  There  is  one  great  division  of 
society  and  citizenship  in  this  country  one  or  the  other 
of  which  branch  will  eventually  rule  the  country,  as 
has  already  been  pointed  out.  In  those  earlier  times 
there  were  no  great  combinations  of  men  and  inter- 
ests such  as  we  have  now.  Neither  trusts,  and  other 
combinations  of  capital,  nor  labor  unions  were  known 
then.  Now  they  do  exist,  and  their  existence  and 
their  methods  present  one  of  the  greatest  and  most 
troublesome  problems  with  which  the  Government  has 
to  deal.  Of  course,  not  all  of  society  is  connected  with 
one  or  the  other  of  these  bodies  of  society;  but  they 
are  the  live,  active  forces,  contending  against  each 
other  for  supremacy,  whose  interests  are  antagonis- 
tic. So  we  cannot  at  this  day  rely  upon  diversity  of 
citizenship  or  of  interests  for  the  protection  of  the 
minority. 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  193 

G.    USURPATION    OF    POWER    BY    ONE    DEPARTMENT    OF 

GOVERNMENT  AT  THE  EXPENSE  OF  ANOTHER  IS 

SUBVERSIVE  OF  DEMOCRACY 

As  one  means  of  preventing  the  concentration  of 
power  in  one  person,  or  department  of  government, 
which  was  regarded  as  dangerous  to  the  liberties  of 
the  people,  three  separate  departments,  the  legislative, 
the  executive  and  the  judicial  were  provided  for  by 
the  Constitution,  and  each  was  confined  in  its  operation 
and  exercise  of  power  within  certain  and  fixed  limits 
and  made  independent  of  the  other  departments.  This, 
it  is  evident,  was  looked  upon  by  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  as  of  great  importance.  Thomas  Jeffer- 
son, the  great  expounder  of  Democracy,  looked  with 
apprehension,  more  than  once  expressed  in  his  corres- 
pondence, upon  the  danger  of  usurpation  of  power  not 
belonging  to  it  by  one  or  the  other  of  these  separate 
departments  of  government.  For  example,  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend,  he  wrote : 

I  said  to  the  President  [Washington]  that  if  the  equi- 
librium of  the  three  great  bodies,  legislative,  executive, 
and  judiciary,  could  be  preserved,  if  the  legislature  could 
be  kept  independent,  I  should  never  fear  the  result  of 
such  a  government,  but  I  could  not  but  be  uneasy  when  I 
saw  that  the  executive  had  swallowed  up  the  legislative 
branch.  .  .  . 

What  has  destroyed  the  liberty  and  the  rights  of  man 
in  every  government  which  has  ever  existed  under  the 
sun?  The  generalizing  and  concentrating  all  cares  and 
powers  into  one  body,  no  matter  whether  of  the  auto- 


194  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

crats  of  Russia  or  France  or  of  the  aristocrats  of  a 
Venetian  senate. 

Alexander  Hamilton  in  The  Federalist  had  this  to 
say  on  the  same  subject : 

The  accumulation  of  all  powers,  Legislative,  Execu- 
tive and  Judiciary,  in  the  same  hands,  whether  of  one, 
a  few,  or  many,  and  whether  hereditary,  self-appointed, 
or  elective,  may  justly  be  pronounced  the  very  definition 
of  tyranny.  Were  the  Federal  Constitution,  therefore, 
really  chargeable  with  this  accumulation  of  power,  or 
with  a  mixture  of  powers,  having  a  dangerous  tendency 
to  such  an  accumulation,  no  further  arguments  would 
be  necessary  to  inspire  a  universal  reprobation  of  the 
system. 

Again  he  says : 

In  a  single  republic,  all  the  power  surrendered  by  the 
People  is  submitted  to  the  administration  of  a  single 
Government ;  and  the  usurpations  are  guarded  against  by 
a  division  of  the  Government  into  distinct  and  separate 
departments.  In  the  compound  republic  of  America,  the 
power  surrendered  by  the  People  is  first  divided  be- 
tween two  distinct  Governments,  and  then  the  portion 
allotted  to  each,  subdivided  among  distinct  and  separate 
departments.  Hence  a  double  security  arises  to  the  rights 
of  the  People.  The  different  Governments  will  control 
each  other,  at  the  same  time  that  each  will  be  controlled 
by  itself. 

The  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  Kil- 
bourn  v.  Thompson,  103  U.  S.  190,  declared  the  ob- 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  195 

ject  and  effect  of  this  division  of  power  in  the  fol- 
lowing explicit  language : 

It  is  believed  to  be  one  of  the  chief  merits  of  the 
American  system  of  written  constitutional  law  that  all 
the  powers  intrusted  to  Government,  whether  State  or 
National,  are  divided  into  the  three  grand  departments, 
the  executive,  the  legislative,  and  the  judicial.  That  the 
functions  appropriate  to  each  of  these  branches  of 
government  shall  be  vested  in  a  separate  body  of  public 
servants,  and  that  the  perfection  of  the  system  requires 
that  the  lines  which  separate  and  divide  these  depart- 
ments shall  be  broadly  and  clearly  defined.  It  is  also 
essential  to  the  successful  working  of  this  system  that  the 
persons  intrusted  with  power  in  any  one  of  these 
branches  shall  not  be  permitted  to  encroach  upon  the 
power  confided  in  the  others,  but  that  each  shall  by  the 
law  of  its  creation  be  limited  to  the  exercise  of  the  pow- 
ers appropriate  to  its  own  department  and  no  other. 

George  Washington,  in  his  "Farewell  Address," 
warned  against  the  dangers  of  the  encroachments  of 
one  department  on  the  powers  and  functions  of  the 
other.  He  said : 

It  is  important  likewise,  that  the  habits  of  thinking 
in  a  free  country  should  inspire  caution  in  those  in- 
trusted with  its  administration,  to  confine  themselves 
within  their  respective  constitutional  spheres,  avoiding 
in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  of  one  department,  to  en- 
croach upon  another.  The  spirit  of  encroachment  tends 
to  consolidate  the  powers  of  all  the  departments  in  one, 
and  thus  to  create,  whatever  the  form  of  government,  a 
real  despotism.  A  just  estimate  of  that  love  of  power 


196  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

and  proneness  to  abuse  it  which  predominate  in  the 
human  heart,  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  us  of  the  truth  of  this 
position.  The  necessity  of  the  reciprocal  checks  in  the 
exercise  of  political  power,  by  dividing  and  distributing 
it  into  different  depositories,  and  constituting  each  the 
guardian  of  the  public  weal  against  invasions  of  the 
others,  has  been  evinced  by  experiments  ancient  and 
modern ;  some  of  them  in  our  country  and  under  our  own 
eyes— to  preserve  them  must  be  necessary  as  to  in- 
stitute them.  If,  in  the  opinion  of  the  people,  the  dis- 
tribution or  modification  of  the  constitutional  powers 
be  in  any  particular  wrong,  let  it  be  corrected  by  an 
amendment  in  the  way  which  the  Constitution  designates. 
But  let  there  be  no  change  by  usurpation;  for  though 
this,  in  one  instance,  may  be  the  instrument  of  good,  it 
is  the  customary  weapon  by  which  free  governments  are 
destroyed.  The  precedent  must  always  greatly  over- 
balance in  permanent  evil,  any  partial  or  transient  benefit 
which  the  use  can  at  any  time  yield. 

The  necessity  for  this  safeguarding  of  the  liberties 
of  the  people  against  the  concentration  or  centraliza- 
tion of  power,  and  the  dangerous  evil  of  one  depart- 
ment of  government  taking  to  itself  the  powers  and 
functions  of  another,  cannot  well  be  doubted;  yet 
this  has  been  going  on  now  for  years.  The  extent  to 
which  the  executive  department  has  been  encroaching 
upon  the  power  of  the  legislative  has  aroused  serious 
apprehension  and  no  little  alarm.  The  author  had  oc- 
casion, more  than  once,  to  call  attention  to  this  grow- 
ing danger.  In  a  speech  delivered  in  the  Senate, 
March  6,  1914,  it  was  said : 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  197 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  I  come  now  to  comment  on  what  I 
consider  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  questions  that 
are  confronting  Congress  to-day,  if  not  the  most  im- 
portant of  them  all,  and  that  is  the  evident  purpose  of 
the  Executive  to  dominate  and  control  the  legislative 
branch  of  the   Government.     I   have   had   occasion  to 
speak  of  it  before  and  since  this  administration  came  into 
power.     It  was  bad  enough  under  previous  administra- 
tions, but  in  this  one  it  has  increased  a  hundredfold 
over  anything  that  has  been  known  in  the  past.     This 
dominating  influence  has  become  so  insistent  and  con- 
tinuous, and  has  been  submitted  to  so  slavishly  by  the 
majority  of  Congress,  that  the  independence  and  useful- 
ness of  the  legislative  branch  of  the  Government  are 
both  threatened.     It  has  been  so  asserted  and  exercised 
and  obediently  submitted  to  that  we  have  come  perilously 
near  to  a  dictatorship.    The  President  has  not  contented 
himself  by  advising  what  measures  should  be  considered 
by  Congress  and  vetoing  them  if  they  do  not  meet  his  ap- 
proval, as  the  Constitution  authorizes  him  to  do.    He  has 
demanded  that  certain  legislation  shall  be  enacted,  has 
insisted  upon  Congress  remaining  in  session  until  the 
laws  he  insists  upon  are  enacted,  and  the  secret  caucus 
is  made  the  instrument  with  which  to  enforce  his  will. 
As  a  consequence  we  have  laws  on  the  statute  books  that 
are  in  effect  and  in  reality  Executive  orders  and  not 
legislative  acts.     They  are  legislation  of  and  enacted  by 
the  executive  department  and  not  by  Congress.     It  is  a 
condition  that   should   attract   the   serious   attention   of 
the  whole  country.    We  have  three  distinct  departments 
of  government.    They  are  intended  by  the  framers  of  the 
Constitution  to  be  independent  of  each  other.    It  has,  up 
to  a  very  late  period,  been  regarded  as  absolutely  neces- 


198  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

sary  to  the  library  of  the  people  and  the  public  welfare 
that  this  independence  should  be  maintained. 

The  subject  was  again  taken  up  in  a  speech  delivered 
January  4th  and  5th,  1917,  in  which  it  was  said 
further : 

As  a  fitting  text  for  what  I  am  about  to  say  on  the 
subject  of  executive  usurpation  of  power,  I  take  the 
following  plank  of  the  Democratic  platform  of  1912: 

"We  believe  in  the  preservation  and  maintenance  in 
their  full  strength  and  integrity  of  the  three  coordinate 
branches  of  the  Federal  Government — the  executive,  the 
legislative,  and  the  judicial — each  keeping  within  its  own 
bounds  and  not  encroaching  upon  the  just  powers  of 
either  of  the  others." 


As  I  have  pointed  out,  the  fear  of  judicial  usurpation 
of  power  was  uppermost  in  the  mind  of  Mr.  Jefferson, 
but  he  and  others  were  able  to  see  the  danger  now  con- 
fronting us  of  the  unwarranted  and  unconstitutional 
usurpation  of  power  by  the  President,  amounting,  prac- 
tically, to  a  dictatorship,  and  the  complacent  surrender 
of  its  powers  and  functions  and  abandonment  of  its 
duties  and  obligations  by  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States.  The  tendency  toward  centralized,  unchecked  and 
unlimited  power  on  the  part  of  the  President  has  existed 
for  some  years  past  and  has  grown  rapidly  worse  and 
more  offensive  in  the  last  four  years.  Never  in  the  entire 
history  of  the  country  has  the  President  so  completely 
and  defiantly  usurped  the  law-making  powers  of  the 
Government  and  dictated  and  forced  the  course  of  Con- 
gress, and  never  has  the  Congress  been  so  submissive  or 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  199 

subservient  to  a  power  outside  itself.  Never  in  all  our 
history  have  we  come  so  near  to  a  despotic  government 
by  a  dictator  as  during  the  last  four  years. 

Members  of  Congress  have,  under  the  lash  of  Execu- 
tive and  party  domination,  surrendered  their  conscienti- 
ous convictions  and  voted  against  their  own  sentiments 
of  right  and  justice.  We  have  on  the  statute  books  to- 
day not  one  but  many  enactments  that  are  the  laws  of  a 
dictator  and  not  the  free  and  voluntary  acts  of  the  Con- 
gress, and  we  have  men  holding  offices,  of  the  highest 
trust,  whose  confirmation  was  the  result  of  this  same 
dictatorial  power  and  not  the  free  and  voluntary  action 
of  this  body. 

What  was  said  in  these  two  speeches  had  no  refer- 
ence to  the  war.  They  were  delivered  before  our 
entry  into  the  war,  and  before  it  was  expected  that  we 
would  become  engaged  in  the  conflict.  The  discussion 
was  of  a  condition  of  peril  to  Democracy  that  pre- 
vailed before  the  war  and  independently  of  the  strug- 
gle. Our  entry  into  the  war  has  for  the  time  being 
changed  all  this.  As  has  been  said  in  another  place, 
the  exigencies  of  the  war  have  made  it  necessary  to 
clothe  the  President  with  extraordinary  powers.  But 
when  peace  is  restored,  this  question  will  again  recur 
and  must  be  dealt  with  if  liberty  and  Democracy  are 
to  be  preserved. 

To  those  who  have  felt  for  a  long  time  that  the  con- 
stitutional barriers  that  separate  the  different  depart- 
ments were  being  broken  down,  and  that  all  power 
being  concentrated  in  one  department  at  the  expense 
and  to  the  exclusion  of  the  others,  the  time  when  re- 


200  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

adjustments  must  come  after  the  war  is  looked  for- 
ward to  with  great  interest  and  not  a  little  anxiety. 
As  a  result  of  the  war  and  of  necessity,  these  bar- 
riers have  been  completely  removed,  and  the  execu- 
tive is  the  supreme  autocratic  power,  and  doubtless 
will  continue  to  be  so  while  the  war  lasts.  What  will 
happen  when  the  war  is  over  is  the  important,  the  vital 
question.  Will  the  constitutional  division  and  lim- 
itations of  power  be  restored,  and  the  legislative 
branch  of  Government  again  assume  and  exercise  its 
full  powers,  or  will  it  submit  still  to  the  controlling  and 
arbitrary  power  and  influence  of  the  executive? 

Congress  had,  before  the  war,  surrendered  its  inde- 
pendence and  neglected  its  duty  as  a  separate  depart- 
ment of  government,  and  as  a  consequence,  lost  much 
of  the  respect  and  confidence  formerly  entertained  for 
it  by  the  people.  Unless  after  the  war  it  resumes  its 
constitutional  functions  and  asserts  and  maintains  its 
independence,  it  will  sink  into  insignificance,  and  the 
country  will  be  confronted  with  the  danger  of  a  despo- 
tism. 

H.    MILITARISM  AND  DEMOCRACY  INCOMPATIBLE  WITH 
EACH   OTHER 

WE  are  fighting  a  great  war  against  militarism  and 
despotic  power.  In  order  to  do  so  successfully,  we 
have  been  compelled  to  become,  ourselves,  in  great 
measure  an  autocracy,  because  a  Democracy  is  not,  for 
reasons  already  stated,  fitted  to  carry  on  a  war.  It 
has  been  necessary  also  to  establish  and  equip  a  great 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  201 

army,  and  to  make  our  navy  one  of  the  most  pow- 
erful in  the  world.  For  the  time  being,  the  military 
branch  of  the  Government  has  become  the  most  pow- 
erful of  all.  It  has  become  the  defender  of  the  nation 
and  the  people's  rights.  As  such  it  will  receive  the 
patriotic  and  generous  help  and  support  of  the  Ameri- 
can people.  But  when  the  war  is  over  and  peace  is 
restored,  it  should  be  the  first  duty  of  the  Govern- 
ment to  disband  this  great  army  and  reduce  the  size 
of  the  navy,  placing  them  both  on  a  peace  footing 
consistent  with  our  democratic  principles  of  govern- 
ment. 

There  are  indications  that  this  may  not  be  done  as 
speedily  and  effectually  as  a  peace-loving  people  will 
desire.  Efforts  are  now  being  made  to  bring  about 
enforced  universal  military  training,  and  consequent 
military  service,  after  peace  has  been  restored.  This 
would  be  wholly  inconsistent  with  our  form  of  gov- 
ernment and  in  contravention  of  democratic  princi- 
ples. 

We  are  fighting  this  war  to  put  an  end  to  all  wars 
and  to  destroy  militarism  for  all  time.  We  have 
every  reason  to  hope  for  this  result.  Then  why  an- 
ticipate other  wars  and  begin  now  to  build  up  here  in 
our  country  a  military  system  that  we  are  giving  of 
our  blood  and  treasure  to  destroy?  Military  training 
as  a  means  of  physical  development  is  unobjection- 
able; but  there  goes  with  it,  necessarily,  the  sense 
that  this  training  is  not  for  that  but  for  military  pur- 
poses; not  to  make  men  stronger  and  better  fitted  to 
perform  their  civil  duties  but  to  make  soldiers  of  them. 


202  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MANi 

It  is  impossible  to  separate  the  two, — military  train- 
ing, military  service.  Such  training  is  the  nursery 
of  the  military  spirit.  It  causes  men  to  look  forward 
to  war  as  the  outcome  of  their  training.  Besides  this, 
the  element  of  force  that  enters  into  the  proposed  en- 
forced military  training  is  incompatible  with  our  demo- 
cratic principles,  and  a  plain  violation  of  them. 

This  idea  of  universal  military  training  and  service 
is  the  outgrowth  of  the  war  spirit  that  has  been  aroused 
by  actual  war.  It  should,  and  probably  will,  subside, 
and  the  effort  to  establish  militarism  in  this  Republic 
be  abandoned  when  the  war  is  over  and  the  people 
begin  to  realize  more  fully  what  militarism  means  and 
what  it  has  brought  about.  It  has  brought  sorrow 
and  anguish  into  thousands  of  homes,  and  death  to 
millions  of  brave  men;  made  millions  more  cripples 
for  life,  made  homes  desolate,  and  numbered  the  wid- 
ows and  orphans  by  the  million.  For  a  hundred  years 
the  nations  engaged  in  this  war  will  be  staggering  under 
enormous  debts  incurred  because  of  the  existence  of 
militarism  in  the  world;  but  for  which  these  fearful 
consequences  of  war  would  not  have  come  upon  ue. 

The  people  want  no  more  militarism.  They  want 
no  more  wars.  They  want  no  enforced  training  that 
is  the  very  thing  upon  which  militarism  is  founded. 

CONCLUSION 

OURS  is  the  greatest,  the  most  beneficent,  the  most 
democratic  government  yet  devised  by  man.  If  its 
principles  are  not  violated,  it  will  protect  the  individual 


MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN  203 

citizen  in  all  his  rights.  It  stands  for  absolute  equal- 
ity of  all  men,  of  every  race,  and  in  every  station  in 
life.  Freedom  to  express  his  convictions  either  by 
word  of  mouth  or  in  print  is  guaranteed  to  every  citi- 
zen. It  should  be  the  high  purpose  of  every  one  to 
maintain  and  uphold  these  just  principles  and  to  pro- 
tect every  man  from  injustice  or  discrimination,  no 
matter  how  poor  or  how  lowly  he  may  be.  This  is 
true  patriotism.  The  man  who  violates  these  princi- 
ples, or  denies  any  one  the  rights  that  they  are  in- 
tended to  guarantee  to  him,  is  an  enemy  to  his  country 
and  a  betrayer  of  liberty. 

The  war  has  made  unthinking  people  intolerant  and 
autocratic.  Passions  run  high  and  betray  good  citizens 
into  a  course  of  conduct  that  would  be  abhorrent  to 
them  in  their  sober  moments,  in  time  of  peace.  They 
entail  upon  others,  as  patriotic  and  as  sincere  as  them- 
selves,- unjust  and  undeserved  humiliation  and  suffer- 
ing. The  war  calls  for  no  such  thing.  The  laws  of 
the  country  forbid  it.  The  laws  of  humanity  are 
equally  against  it. 

From  the  condition  of  intolerance  and  hatred  the 
lower  classes  suffer  the  most.  Those  of  high  degree 
may,  and  do,  speak  their  minds  without  molestation 
and  without  fear,  while  the  man  of  low  degree,  as  so- 
ciety is  measured,  who  does  the  same  thing  is  perse- 
cuted, ostracised,  and  sent  to  prison  because  he  is  un- 
protected and  defenseless.  This  is  only  one  of  the 
many  unjust  discriminations  that  tend  to  destroy  the 
principle  of  equality  that  makes  this  a  democracy.  The 
dangers  to  liberty,  the  oppression  of  one  class  of  citi- 


204  MAN'S  DUTY  TO  MAN 

zens  by  another,  the  inequality  of  treatment  of  one 
class  as  compared  to  another,  and  the  denial  of  rights 
to  one  class  freely  accorded  to  another,  are  not  the 
result  of  our  form  of  government.  They  are  just 
what  our  liberal  form  of  government  is  designed  to 
prevent.  They  are  perversions  of  free  government. 

These  encroachments  upon  the  inherent  and  consti- 
tutional rights  of  men  are  the  outcome  of  evil  human 
passions,  selfishness,  malice,  hate,  revenge,  avarice,  in- 
tolerance, and  the  many  other  perverse  emotions  that 
stir  humanity.  While  these  exist  and  rule  men's  con- 
duct, perfect  government  cannot  be  attained.  It  can 
only  be  approximated.  Men  cannot  be  made  unselfish, 
or  honest,  or  considerate  of  their  fellowmen,  by  the 
force  of  human  laws.  The  reform  of  government  and 
of  society  must  go  deeper  than  this;  it  must  reach  the 
conscience,  the  sense  of  justice  in  the  mind  and  heart 
of  man,  if  righteous  government  is  to  prevail. 

If  we  live  up  to  the  requirements  of  the  government, 
no  man  will  suffer  in  either  his  civil  or  political  rights. 
If  we  live  up  to  the  Golden  Rule,  no  man  will  be 
wronged  in  either  his  private  or  social  rights.  If  we 
live  up  to  the  Scriptural  injunction  "Love  thy  neigh- 
bor as  thyself,"  no  man  could  suffer  injustice,  or 
poverty,  or  want.  If  we  were  to  live  up  to  these 
righteous  demands  made  upon  us,  men  would  be  ruled 
by  Love,  and  no  human  government  would  be  neces- 
sary. 


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ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 

•  2-month  loans  may  be  renewed  by  calling 
(510)642-6753 

•  1-year  loans  may  be  recharged  by  bringing 
books  to  NRLF 

•  Renewals  and  recharges  may  be  made 
4  days  prior  to  due  date 

DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


'JAM  1  2  2005 


DD20   15M  4-02 


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:( 

If! 


